


Escape (Second Draft)

by Spartan5271



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Gen, Magic, Runaway, Spells & Enchantments
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:41:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 27,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25277083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spartan5271/pseuds/Spartan5271
Summary: Imagine, if you would, a world where humans have the ability to shoot lightning from their hands, fire formed in the palm of your hand, the ability to hold pure light... now imagine those gifts sending you down the path of no return as you are almost constantly on the run from the authorities that wish to take you, either away or down.Follow Ruby Rose as she goes through this life, making a handful of friends along the way as the walls seemingly close in around her and enemies surrounding her at every turn.
Relationships: Coco Adel & Velvet Scarlatina, Jaune Arc & Ruby Rose, Raven Branwen/Taiyang Xiao Long, Summer Rose (RIP)/Taiyang Xiao Long
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	1. Chapter 1

_A person that my father watched once said, "The single quality that is common across every living creature on this planet, is fear. ... But fear itself isn't worthy of concern; it is who we become while in its clutches."_

_Prologue_

_Queens, New York City_

_November 27th, 2040_

_4:32 PM_

The sounds of chatter, construction, and car horns filled the streets of New York City. People were walking side-by-side with synthetic machines that were being used as human-shaped shopping carts along the sidewalk, an occasional shout came from the street as the traffic was slowly piling up, and the T.V.'s were playing the news.

'Good evening, citizens of New York. I am Lisa Lavender. Today we have some breaking news to share with you. Just a few hours ago, the Senate voted in favor of pushing the Grimm Clearing Bill ahead of schedule, moving the vote to this December rather than next May. While many in the Senate appear to be glad about this decision, Senator Robyn Hill exclaimed her feelings regarding the bill,' Lisa said.

The Grimm are what humans call other people who can cast magic. Yes, I said magic.

As the monitors switched to a video of Senator Hill, sirens were ringing as two police cruisers were on their way to their destination.

While one was the standard police charger, the leading vehicle had a carbon black exterior with yellow lights on the top of the cars, and four golden letters across the sides of them: G.D.T.F.

_The Grimm Detainment Task Force are specialized police units trained in handling any situations relating to managing any individuals capable of magic. Their primary objective was to incapacitate any Grimm that they find and take them back to the Institutions._

__

_A year after the Grimm began to appear around the country, Doctor Arthur Watts was placed in charge of the government-funded maximum security prisons across the country known as the Institutions. These structures were designed for maintaining the Grimm. During his time as the Head of Institutions, Watts allegedly ran multiple tests on Grimm prisoners behind closed doors, trying to find out how they were able to perform these feats. When he was unable to find the answer, he began experimenting with different ways of "curing" them. Cut tongues, severed hands, stiched mouths, and more... But nobody cared about the Grimm back then. Even when a whistleblower testified about Watts' experiments, the senators did not seem to care. Most of them anyway..._

From the leading charger's interior, Senator Hill's voice echoed through the vehicle's radio.

'This bill is a national disgrace to our country and completely contradicts what our country stands for. We are supposed to be the land of the free and home of the brave, not the land of fear and enslaved. To even suggest the content that is in this bill should have any senator removed from their position. Not only is this bill a waste of taxpayer money, but it is also massively inhumane. We—’

“Switch the radio back to the police comms. We’re getting to our destination,” The driver sternly said.

“You’re is a mood today, Tai,” The passenger said as he turned off the radio.

_Taiyang Xiao Long. Due to his admiration for the law, Taiyang joined the NYPD shortly after receiving his general education and . During his time as an N.Y.P.D officer, Taiyang was known to follow the law above anything else. From jaywalking to corrupt cops, Taiyang shows little regard for who he is arresting, only what the charges are. When the G.D.T.F was established, Taiyang felt that he could do some real good and protect those that he cares about._

“You hearing us, Raven?”

‘I thought that you would never shut that damn thing off. Okay, boys, listen up. You are about five minutes away from the destination. Miss Belladonna is currently on the other line and said that the Grimm is currently unaware of where she is.’

_Raven Branwen. Grew up in Jackson Heights and was an expert with technology and communications. When she graduated with a degree in tech, Raven moved to Queens to become a Communications Operative in the NYPD where she met Taiyang. The two became close friends while on the force and when the G.D.T.F was established, Branwen was offered a position for the Head of Comms on the task force._

“Copy that. Try to keep her calm. One wrong move and this can get messy,” Taiyang said.

‘Understood, sir. Good luck, Lieutenant. Qrow, make sure that he doesn’t kill himself.’

“You know it.”

_Qrow Rose. When Qrow was a single child, he was frequently abused by his father while his mother chose to ignore him. When his sister, Summer, was born, Qrow vowed to protect her and defended her from their father, usually adding her punishments onto his own. When Summer graduated from high school, the two siblings left Chicago and moved to New York to start a new life away from their parents. Once they managed to find an affordable place to stay in, the siblings quickly found work. While Summer took on various part time jobs while she went to med school, Qrow joined the N.Y.P.D. During his time on the force, Qrow met Raven and Taiyang and became fast friends. When the G.D.T.F was established, Qrow was hesitant to join since he thought that it was a joke but joined because he thought that it could increase his salary._

_After a few years of friendship, Taiyang and Qrow became brothers, both in arm and by marriage after Summer and Taiyang got married._

“Okay, rookies, listen up,” Taiyang said, “What we have here is a 10-62. The hostage is a teenager by the name of Blake Belladonna. Information says that she was in the kitchen when she heard her mother scream in the backyard before a loud explosion came from the living room. She panicked and ran into the attic and has been waiting for us to arrive. If this information is accurate, then that means that we have an opening in the back of the house. So, we will be performing a pincer maneuver. Sergeant Rose and I will be entering the house through the back while the two of you distract the Grimm from the front. If the Grimm shows any hint of attacking, extreme force is authorized.”

‘Yes, lieutenant!’

“But hey, let’s try to not get blood on the carpet, guys. I’d prefer getting shot instead of getting a bill for cleaning a carpet in this city,” Qrow said.

“Time to get serious, everyone. We are pulling up to the household now,” Taiyang said.

Upon pulling up to the home, the four saw two cars parked outside of the house, the door into the side yard was wide open, and shouting could be heard from inside the house.

“Blake!”

“Command, we have confirmation that the Grimm is still inside the house.”

‘10-4. Vehicle is a black pickup truck.’

“I have visual confirmation on the vehicle. Driver door is open and there appears to be bags in the truck.”

‘10-4. You have the green light to enter the residence. Reminder that lethal force is authorized.’

“10-4,” Taiyang said as he opened the trunk of the charger, revealing the weapons of the G.D.T.F.

_The standard equipment that the G.D.T.F are allowed are a modified FN P90 with a single/burst selective fire and laser sighting. When it came to protection, G.D.T.F officers had standard issue riot gear._

“We have the green light,” Taiyang said to the other G.D.T.F members as they loaded their weapons, “Remember, the top priority is trying to arrest the Grimm. but we do have a green light for neutralization."

“Stick to the plan and follow your training. We’ll be having our rounds at Neir’s before you know it,” Qrow said as he loaded his gun.

The four split into two teams, the rookies approaching the front of the house while Qrow and Taiyang went through the side gate.

As they pushed forward, Taiyang and Qrow came to a halt as they heard a door open inside the house.

“Blake! Where are you? Blake, I promise I will explain everything, but we have to hurry!”

“Attention all units, Grimm sounds like he is in a panicked state. Caution is advised.”

Taiyang and Qrow continued until they turned the corner into the backyard, only to find a burnt corpse next to a recently lit fireplace.

"We have a body here," Qrow said into his radio, approaching cautiously and kneeling next to it. "The body looks to be female, around forties, slightly below average height, average weight. Miss Belladonna mentioned that her mom was in the backyard before she heard screaming, so it is likely her. The heat from the fireplace is still warm,” Taiyang tapped Qrow's shoulder before pointing at the large hole that was in the glass door overlooking the yard.

“Command, we have visual confirmation of a glass door that has a giant hole in it. Based on the blast, it came from outside. It looks to me like the Grimm came in through the side yard. Further investigation will be needed for a more accurate assessment.”

"Sergeant Rose and I are in position. Rookies, what is your status,” Taiyang asked.

'Officer Phillip and I are in position. Guns are set for burst fire, sir.'

"Okay. Introduce yourselves."

A loud knock was heard from within the house.

"G.D.T.F.! OPEN UP!"

“No, no, no! _Ignis_!”

Hearing a spell being cast, Qrow and Taiyang ran inside the house through the hole in the door. Where a mahogany door once stood was a large hole leading out into the front yard, the wood now outlined by a burning black ring.

Looking through the hole, Taiyang and Qrow saw Officer Phillips was on the ground, unconscious, while officer Derek had his gun trained on the Grimm, who stood in the center of all three officers.

The Grimm that stood before them had a good two feet on them, was very muscular, and his eyes were black voids with glowing blood-red pupils to contrast it.

"Stay back," The man said.

"Easy, big guy," Taiyang said as he slowly lowered his weapon, "I am Lieutenant Taiyang Xiao Long of Queens' Grimm Detainment Task Force. Ghira Belladonna, we a warrant for your arrest for the use of magic, for murdering your wife, Kali Belladonna, and for the attempted kidnapping of Blake Belladonna. You will come with us and we will take you to the nearest Institution. You should know that we are authorized the use of lethal force should you attempt to resist.”

“My wife, she's…”

“She’s dead... You killed her, Ghira,” Qrow said.

This seemed to shock Ghira as he stumbled a bit, placing a hand on his head and mumbling, “No… I-I didn’t mean to… I was just—”

“Why don’t we just calm down. You will go to the Institution, and—”

As Qrow was talking, Taiyang noticed the expression on Ghira’s face shift from sadness to anger. Ghira’s eyes shifted back and forth before screaming, “ _Aer_!”

Qrow was suddenly shot back by a strong and controlled gust of wind that was sent out by Ghira’s hand. After being flung into the wall by Ghira, Qrow landed on the ground in pain as Taiyang yelled, “Fire!”

Taiyang and the rookie fired their weapons at the same time, with both hitting various parts of the Grimm's body. Falling to his knees, Ghira looked down and placed his hand on his chest, feeling the dark red liquid pouring over his hand.

Slowly looking up at both Qrow and Taiyang, Ghira's vision shifted behind them as he stared at a picture of his family. The smiles on their faces... the happiness in that photo... he wanted to go back to that time.

“Blake… I…I…”

But those were Ghira’s final words. As the Grimm's blood-red eyes dilated, his hands limped towards the ground before his body collapsed onto the floor. As the pool of blood began to pour out, Qrow slowly got back up and said, “Damn, that hurt.”

“You okay,” Taiyang asked.

“Yeah… Rookie, go check on Phillips. I’ll go find the kid.”

“Grimm has been neutralized. We’re going to need a few body bags.”

5:47 PM

After giving her statement on what happened before she ran to the attic, Blake was allowed to leave the precinct with a family member.

Inside the G.D.T.F department, the lights were out, and almost all of the G.D.T.F that had day shift had gone home; the only person from the day shift who was still working in the G.D.T.F was Taiyang, who was typing his report into the computer.

Hearing a knock on his office door, Taiyang looked up to see his Head of Communications, Raven Branwen, standing at the door, out of uniform.

“What are you still doing here,” Raven asked as she walked up to Taiyang’s desk.

"Just finishing the report on that Grimm that broke into the house,” Taiyang said as he finished another section.

“Well, Qrow is offering to buy the first round tonight to celebrate the rookies pulling off their first mission. You maybe want to come with?”

"I can't. I promised Ruby that I'd watch a movie with her tonight."

"Oh, was that tonight,” Raven asked.

"Yeah, and she's been really busy with school, so I feel like I owe it to her."

Raven walked up and placed a hand on Taiyang's shoulder. "I know that the day is coming up."

Taiyang looked over to a dated photo of his younger self and another woman sitting at home with their three-year-old daughter.

_Summer Rose was on her way home with their daughter, Ruby Rose, who was around seven at the time, when the car was struck directly in the driver-side door by a car that drove through a red light. While Ruby receives cuts, bruises, and a broken arm, Summer died from the impact._

"If you ever need to talk to someone—"

"Thanks, Raven. I should be fine here. I'll see you tomorrow,” Taiyang said as he leaned up and pecked Raven on the cheek.

_Around five years after Summer’s death, Taiyang and Raven began to grow closer and soon developed a relationship. Raven acknowledged that she would likely never replace Summer, but told Taiyang that she is willing to try her best to be as good as Summer. They have been dating now for two years now._

_6:32 PM_

Taiyang pulled his car into the driveway of his house. Proceeding up the three brick steps to his home, Taiyang opened the door to see his daughter sitting in the family room, eating some instant popcorn, watching T.V, when he heard a robotic voice say, ‘Ah! Good evening, sir! Shall I take your coat, sir?’

"No, Penny, I'm fine. Why don't you go to charge?”

_The Synthetic Phase 3 Nanny Emulation Android, or Penny as Ruby liked to call it. Penny was given to Taiyang as a gift by the department to act as a nanny and mother figure for Ruby after Summer passed away and he had to work longer shifts to make ends meet. During this period, Ruby grew to love Penny as a mother. Penny does many chores around the house, from cleaning to tutoring, Penny is like Ruby’s only friend._

‘Thank you, sir,’ Penny bowed before walking over to the wall and plugged its standard-issue android charger into its hip before powering down.

“Hey, Dad, how was work?”

Taiyang put his coat on the coat hanger before sitting down beside his daughter.

_Ruby Rose… That’s me. Ever since my mom’s death, I have been a social outcast according to my teachers and my doctors. If you must know, I do not care much for friends. I mean, if you are going to eventually move to opposite ends of the country after high school and rarely talk to one another, then what’s the point? Besides, I know how to keep myself busy._

“Got a report of a hostage situation. Grimm killed his wife and was looking for his daughter in the house. Uncle Qrow got slammed into the wall” Taiyang said as he grabbed the remote.

“Is he okay?”

“He’s fine. The Grimm was not as lucky.”

“Did you hear Senator Hill’s comments about the bill?”

“Briefly.”

“Do you think that they are actually going to go through with it,” Ruby asked.

“I don’t know… let’s just forget about all that and watch the movie.”

“Okay… So what relic from your childhood are you going to force me to watch,” Ruby said in a very sarcastic tone.

"Keep talking like that, and I will pull out what was considered a bad movie back then."

"I mean, what amazing piece of cinema are we going to watch,” Ruby said in a very positive tone.

“That's what I thought," Taiyang chuckled, "How about The Matrix?"

"Those graphics are so bad, though…"

"Or we can watch Birdemic 2 again."

"Okay! Okay! We can watch The Matrix."

_8:32 PM_

After the movie was done, Ruby proceeded into her room.

"Hey, Dad! I'm going to read for a bit before I head to bed."

"Okay, don't stay up too late, though. It’s a school night.”

“I know…” Ruby said as she shut the door and carefully turned the lock so that it would lock without making too much noise.

Walking to her bed, Ruby got onto her knees to reached underneath. Feeling what she was looking for, Ruby pulled out a book with the cover saying, ‘Diary.’ But when Ruby opened the "diary," the actual title of the book was ‘English to Latin Translator.’

_In 2031, when the Grimm were starting to pop up more and more around the world, it was discovered that all of the spells Grimm casted were derived from their Latin roots, so the language was declared illegal within the U.S. and other countries as well. Shortly after this, all forms of literature pertaining to the Latin language were confiscated and destroyed. Well, almost all of it._

Ruby turned on her bedside lamp and climbed back on top of her comforter. Opening to a bookmarked page, Ruby began to stare intently at a single phrase and tried to say it.

“P…Parva locks. No… Parva Lucks… shit come on. _Parva Lux_. ”

Ruby looked at her bedside table as her lamp seemed to grow brighter. Extending her hand towards the light, Ruby repeated the spell.

" _Parva Lux_."

As the lamp began to glow brighter, Ruby watched as a luminescent blur began to move towards Ruby’s hand. Turning her hand to have her palm facing upward, she stared in awe as the blur slowly formed a small light in her hand that began to grow brighter by every second. Unfortunately, the light began to grow too bright for Ruby to stare at.

“Uh oh,” Ruby used her other hand to cover her eyes.

Ruby turned away from the light as it began to get too bright and quickly flipped through the pages of the translation book, finding the right translation to dim the light.

“Let’s tru… cali… gave— no, gav i runt. _Caligaverunt_.”

The overwhelming light slowly began to subside until the glow was just bright enough to give off the same amount of light as a night light. Now that it was safe to look at, Ruby stared at the ball of light with wonder in her eyes as she saw the multiple bright colors waving around in a perfect translucent sphere just above the palm of her hand.

Smiling, Ruby looked towards the mirror and saw her glowing reflection.

_I knew what I was. I was not the monster that scared your child in the night. I was not the terrorist that was wreaking havoc on the people of New York. I was just… me._

Not wanting to get caught, Ruby raised her hand upward, as if she were gently letting a bird fly from her hand, and watched as the orb of light flew into the air before crumbling away like sand in an hourglass.

Placing both her hands on her eyes and whispered, " _Abscondam_." She felt her eyes slowly changing back to their original form. Once the spell was done, she removed her hands and looked at her reflection in the mirror once more.

As she stared at her reflection, Ruby was happy to see that her eyes were white with silver irises again. Placing the book in its original hiding spot, Ruby got into bed and went to sleep, ready to head to school the next morning.

_As much as I wish that this story was one of happiness, love, joy, all that nonsense... life had a funny idea of making my life a living hell these last few days. I suppose that I should start where it all began... This is the story of my escape._


	2. A "Normal" Day

_Queens, New York City_

_November 27th, 2040_

_7:30 AM_

The sound of an annoying alarm clock filled the cluttered and messy room of Ruby Rose, who was slowly opening her eyes while feeling exhausted. Swiping her hand at the bedside table, Ruby felt a sense of satisfaction upon hitting the alarm clock’s off switch. Slowly rising up from her bed, Ruby groaned as she stretched her arms as far as she could.

Her moment of silence was quickly interrupted as Penny suddenly opened Ruby’s door and walked in, 'Good morning Miss Rose.'

“Hey Penny, what is it like outside?”

'The date is Tuesday, December 2nd, 2040. The time is 7:30 in the morning. The weather will have snowy skies. There is also a 98% chance of heavy snow in the late evening.'

As Penny was listing off the information for the day, Ruby got out of bed and began rubbing her eyes.

'Your father is currently in the living room, watching the television. Shall I inform him that you are awake now?'

"No, that won't be necessary, but if you could turn on the shower in a few minutes, that would be great."

'As you wish, Miss Rose.'

Penny proceeded out of the room, leaving Ruby to take care of her chores. After making her bed, cleaning her floor, packing her backpack, Ruby just needed to freshen up. Grabbing some clothes, the teenager walked to the doorframe before realizing that she had one last thing that she needed to do.

Walking back to her bed, Ruby placed her clothes and bag down, kneeled beside her bed, and reached underneath to grab the translation book.

_A few years ago, my father brought home a case that contained various belongings of a small group of Grimm that were hiding out in the city. My dad raided the hideout, but failed to catch the Grimm. While the contents mainly consisted of clothing, food wrappers, and water bottles, there were a few Latin translation books inside._

_I, who was only twelve at the time, was curious about the book and decided to… borrow it. Ironic that I was doing it to pretend to be a “mean and disgusting” Grimm. When I opened it, I saw that the text was full of markings: circled and crossed out words. As I read through the book, I came across a Latin phrase that had a note next to it._

_“Easy for first timers? Hmm,” I read to myself._

_I, being a curious ten year old, said the spell… and that is when my life changed forever._

‘Miss Rose! Your shower is ready,’ Penny raised her voice.

“Thank Penny. I’ll be there in a second,” Ruby turned towards the door and said as she absent mindedly placed the book in her backpack and walked out of her room.

As Ruby turned the corner towards the bathroom, Ruby saw Penny was waiting just out in the hallway.

‘I have calibrated the shower to an appropriate setting.’

“Thanks Penny,” Ruby smiled as she entered the bathroom.

Shutting and locking the door, Ruby placed her fresh clothes on the counter.Stripping out of her pajamas jumping quickly into the shower, Ruby quickly realized that the water was ice cold.

"Penny, the shower is freezing,” Ruby yelled as she quickly turned up the heat.

‘Your energy levels were low, so I set the shower to an appropriate temperature to help adjust those levels. Now, if you will excuse me, I will make you a nutritious breakfast.’

Ruby released a defeated sighed as she placed herself under the, now, warmer water. As she felt the water gliding down her body, Ruby raised her hand under the falling water.

Closing her eyes, Ruby whispered, “ _Aqua_.”

The water surrounding Ruby’s hand suddenly came to a stop and began to move towards the center of her hand. As the drops formed together, the spell slowly grew until Ruby had formed a small ball of water.

_I still remember the reaction I had when I used this spell that night. I felt a small sting in my eyes before looking in the mirror and seeing I had Grimm eyes. I remember thinking that I was going to die from a panic attack before my father shot me._

As Ruby focused on the new spell, she almost jumped at the sudden knock on the door. Having lost her concentration, the ball of water quickly lost its shape. It fell through Ruby's fingers, splashing against the ceramic floor and going down the drain.

'Miss Rose, your breakfast is ready and is in the living area. I must also inform you that you are currently thirty-five seconds behind your average Monday through Friday schedule.'

"Thanks, Penny. I'll be right out!"

Ruby quickly washed her hair before turning the water off. Jumping out of the shower, she looked in the mirror and saw her Grimm eyes.

_I contemplated telling my dad about what I was… but I was frightened about how he, a G.D.T.F officer, would react. I may have been young, but I knew how long Grimm tend to last in the States once they’re discovered. So instead, I went back to the book and frantically searched for a spell that could fix my eyes._

Ruby faced the mirror and placed her hands over her eyes and said, “ _Abscondam._ ”

_Imagine putting eye contacts on, but without all the trouble of shutting your eyes too soon. The only problem is that your eyes feel itchy for a few minutes after using the spell._

After using the spell, Ruby opened her eyes and saw that they were… normal.

_I always hated using this spell… Yeah, it’s what kept me alive, but it also kept me from being who I really am…_

After brushing and flossing her teeth, Ruby put on her fresh clothes and walked out of the bathroom freshly showered, clothed, and clean.

Despite the house’s smaller size, Ruby never really cared. It was her home and it had all she really needed. It had two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a main living area that had the kitchen, entryway, and living room all connected. Walking into the kitchen area, Ruby saw the cup of coffee on the granite countertop next to a plate of fat-trimmed bacon, scrambled eggs with a light layer of pepper, shredded carrots on top of a small handful of spinach, and a quesadilla cut into thirds.

‘Miss Rose, your breakfast is ready.’

"Thanks, Penny," Ruby said as she grabbed her drink and began to enjoy her very sugary coffee.

‘I have added your average cream and sugar. I must once again express that the very high sugar levels that you request are considered counter-beneficial to maintaining a healthy lifestyle in every way, Miss Rose.’

“Yes, but nothing gives me more joy than this very sugary, very delicious drink you make.”

‘While I appreciate your attempt to change the subject, Miss Rose, I must still urge you to change your coffee preferences.’

“Okay, next time, I promise,” Ruby smiled.

‘You have said that approximately six hundred and twenty three times. The odds of you keeping this promise are—’

“Up up up, coffee time,” Ruby said as she sipped her drink.

‘Breaking News: It appears that the institution in Montana was just attacked by the Grimm terrorist group known as The Light.’

Ruby turned her attention to the TV as it showed one of the Institutions on fire. Walking closer to the TV, Ruby saw Taiyang sitting on the couch in his uniform.

‘According to the officials supervising the Institution, they held nearly three thousand Grimm. Fortunately, there were no human casualties in the attack, but a few handfuls of Grimm were killed during the escape. Montana's G.D.T.F units are on high alert and will continue searching for the Grimm that managed to escape. The terrorist group known as The Light claim responsibility for the attack. More details after this—'

"More of the same old crap…" Taiyang said as he stood up.

“How many is that now,” Ruby asked as she sipped her coffee.

Taiyang turned to his daughter and said, “This makes the second attack in the last three weeks.”

“You think that this has something that has to do with Project Remnant?”

“I don’t know, maybe. All I care about is that it wasn’t the Institution here,” Taiyang sighed.

_If you must know what Project Remnant is, then allow me to refer you to President Ironwood, the creator of Project Remnant. Ironwood announced late last year that he had a project in development that would “solve” the Grimm “outbreak” easily. If I knew then what I know now, I would have left weeks ago._

“I think that it’s a little weird that the Grimm didn’t kill any humans in the attack,” Ruby said.

“Well, that means that the security at that Institution did their jobs.”

“Or maybe the Grimm aren’t the killers that people say?”

“You’ve been listening to Senator Hill, haven’t you,” Taiyang asked.

“Well, at least, I am not just sitting on the couch, listening to Lisa Lavender spew a bunch of nonsense about the Grimm.”

“Right, you just sit in your room, listening to Robyn Hill spew a bunch of nonsense about the Grimm,” Taiyang said.

Ruby rolled her eyes and had another sip of her coffee, knowing that any further discussion would ruin the morning. Instead, Ruby decided to change the subject.

“I got an A on my history paper.”

“That’s good to hear,” Taiyang said as he looked down at his watch, “Shit, I better get going.”

Taiyang grabbed his keys and his coat before turning to Ruby and said, “Have a good day at school, and remember: If you see a Grimm, you…”

_I hated saying this every. Fucking. Morning. It was like asking me how I would react if I saw another me… okay that would be freaky, but you get what I am trying to say._

“I call you and get away from the nasty terrorist as soon as possible.”

  
Taiyang gave Ruby a smile and a nod before saying, “Good luck at school.”

As he shut the door, Ruby muttered, “Asshole.”

As she was having another sip of coffee, Penny walked up and said, 'Miss Rose, I must inform you that you are now approximately two minutes past schedule.'

Ruby’s eyes widened as she spat out her coffee, "Oh shit, I'm going to miss the train!"

'Explicit language is not appropriate for someone of your age range, Miss Rose.’

Ruby grabbed her bag and ran out of the front door, childishly yelling, "Fuck off, Penny!”

As the young Grimm ran off, Penny stood there and shook her head, ‘Miss Rose, you are, without a doubt, the most interesting human I have met.’

Penny then saw the spray of coffee on the floor and said, ‘Ooh, a new objective.’

_Washington, DC_

_November 27th, 2040_

_7:46 AM_

On the cloudy day, Senator Robyn hill sat in her office. The room itself was quite bland: no awards or pictures except for a single photo of Robyn, her wife, Terra, and their little girl, Luna Hill. It was a nice family picture. The only thing that stood out other than the picture was the window that was wide open.

However, Robyn was staring not at the picture, but at her phone as article after article popped up on her screen.

‘Senator Cordovan accuses Senator Hill of aiding Liberteria.’

‘Senator Robyn Hill’s comments of The Light’s actions sparks heated debate.’

‘Senator or Traitor Hill?’

Senator Robyn Hill snapped back to reality as her door opened up and her assistant, Fiona Thyme, walked in with a coffee. The assistant had a red sweater, a white shirt that had a rather large orange stain on it, and blue jeans.

“Good morning, Miss Hill,” Fiona said as she took off her sweater.

“Good morning, Fiona.”

_Fiona Thyme: Loyal personal intern of Robyn Hill. A short time defender of the Grimm, Fiona managed to catch the attention of Robyn because of her blogs that discuss the benefits of the Grimm. During her first few months as the senator’s high school intern, Fiona felt relieved to see that someone in the Senate did seem to care as much for the Grimm as she did. Sure, Fiona can be clumsy, but she has a passion and that was more than enough for Senator Hill._

“Miss Hill, I am so sorry for being late. The commute was terrible, the coffee shop didn’t have any caramel for your drink, so I went to the nearest store and bought some, but I dropped the entire container in my lap in my car and—”

Robyn raised her hand, gave Fiona a compassionate smile, and said,“ Don’t worry about it. Besides, I would prefer to be stuck in traffic than read any more of these stupid articles.”

“It can’t be that bad, can it?”

  
Robyn responded by simply turning on the T.V.

'Good morning New York City, I am Lisa Lavender, news anchor of the Vale News Broadcast. Late last evening, Senator Cordovan accused Senator Hill of aiding the Grimm terrorist organization known as the Light, who has claimed responsibility for most of the attacks on the Institutions along the American-Canadian border. We asked Senator Hill to comment on the accusation from Cordovan, and she responded with this statement: ‘Senator Cordovan believes that I am a traitor because I do not trust President Ironwood. I do not trust this Project Remnant because I do not know what the full scale of the Project is. If she has any more evidence of this alleged treason, then she can present it to the Senate.’ We asked Senator Cordovan for a response. She has refused to answer.’

  
“What does this mean, Miss Hill,” Fiona asked as she handed Robyn her coffee.

“It means that we need to be careful. One wrong move is all it takes,” Robyn said as the two heard cawing come from outside.

Looking towards the window, both Fiona and Robyn watched as a raven had flown in through the window, landing directly on top of Robyn’s desk.

“Nevermore, you need to be more careful,” Robyn said as she unlatched the string on Nevermore’s leg.

_This raven, Nevermore, belongs to Elder Hazel, one of the residing Elders of Liberteria and leader of The Light’s faction in the Northeast. Nevermore is how Robyn and The Light send information to one another, trading information regarding the Grimm._

“Let’s see…” Robyn said as she began to read the letter.

_‘RH,_

_Elder David has reported that his attack on the Institution was a success with minor casualties. The information helped save hundreds of Grimm inside of those haunted walls. However, based on the evidence that you have shown us regarding Project Remnant, the Council of Elders has grown concerned. Rumors among Liberteria grow more and more and the Council will be forced to order a full extraction from the country by the end of the week. If you can get any more information regarding the Project, we will reward you for your efforts._

_-HR’_

Robyn looked up from the letter and sighed, prompting Fiona to ask, “What?”

“The Light is planning on leaving by the end of the week. The Elders are scared of what the main purpose of the Project is… I can’t say that I blame them.”

“Vice President Ebi is expected to reveal more about Project Remnant at 11:00 AM. Shall I book it on your calendar?”

“Of course. Plus it will give me something to write back. Nevermore, _reditum ad meridies_.”

The raven slowly flapped its wings and flew out of the window.

“I have a few meetings that I must attend to,” Robyn said as she handed the note to Fiona, “You know what to do with this.”

“Already on it, ma’am,” Fiona said as she proceeded over to the paper shredder and placed the letter inside.

As the letter was being destroyed, Robyn walked out of her office and sighed, thinking to herself, ‘Another day in the Senate.’

_Queens, New York City_

_December 2nd, 2040_

_7:52 AM_

Ruby was standing in the center of a train cart, waiting for her stop when she heard the monitor say, ‘Arriving at Q46’.

“Finally,” Ruby muttered to herself.

As the train doors opened up, Ruby quickly jogged up the stairs leading out of the Main St & Melbourne Avenue subway line. Knowing the way, Ruby ran down Melbourne Avenue, past the T-intersection of Melbourne Avenue and 149th Street, and arrived at her destination. Signal High School, the same school that her parents went to.

Before she had a chance to proceed into the school, Ruby heard a familiar voice behind her, “Look out girls, .”

Ruby closed her eyes and clenched her fists as she turned to see Ciel Soleil, with her little posse behind her.

"You know that was funny, Ciel. Did you think of that during your second or third micro botox?"

"Oh please, we both know that my face is far too good for that."

"Really? Cause I gotta say, you're lip's showing a bit of a botched operation," Ruby tapped her lip, causing a rather angry reaction.

"At least I don't have to wear the same clothes from yesterday. I mean, what is that trash hoodie? Did you borrow it from your mom? Oh, I’m sorry, too soon?”

Ruby’s smile quickly vanished as Ciel had a look that said, 'Did that hurt much?'

"Got nothing to say? No witty comeback?"

"..."

"Heh, guess the cat's got her tongue. Come on, girls," Ciel said.

As the girls walked past Ruby, most of them made an effort to step into her, laughing as the girl stood still, taking every hit head on. When the last of the girls passed her, Ruby released a pent up exhale before walking towards the school. As she walked up the steps to the front entrance of the school, the first bell rang.

"Oh shit," Ruby said as she quickly ran up the staircase to get to her first class.

Clashing and pushing against the other students that were rushing towards their classes, Ruby had made it into the hallway of the second floor. As she took another step, a fellow student ran into Ruby and knocked her down. Opening her eyes, Ruby realized that all of her papers were out of her bag onto the floor.

“Goddamn it…" Ruby muttered to herself as she began to grab papers like crazy. After a few seconds of collecting her writings, she saw someone standing in front of her pile.

"Oh crap, I am so sorry. Let me help."

Ruby saw the person kneel down to help Ruby gather her papers. He had shaggy blonde hair and emerald green eyes. He had brown sneakers, a pair of blue denim jeans, a black hoodie with some old joke about the old game 'Fortnite.' With the two of them working together, all of the papers were gathered in a matter of seconds.

"Thanks," Ruby said as she stood up.

"It was no problem," The boy chuckled.

"Do I know you? You seem familiar..."

“Oh yeah, I’m Jaune Arc," Jaune said as he extended a hand, “We were in the debate class together last semester.”

"Oh right! How could I forget that?”

"Yeah, your name is Ruby, right?"

“Ruby Rose," Ruby replied as she shook Jaune’s hand, “Yeah, I remember you making that final debate case in defense of the Grimm.”

“Yup. Turned into Jaune Arc v. The Class. I probably should have expected that outcome from a mile away.”

"Hey, those were some very valid points about the Grimm's benefits to society. It’s not your fault that nobody will listen.”

Jaune gave a small chuckle, ”Yeah, well, what am I gonna do…”

Unfortunately for the two, their moment was interrupted by the sudden ringing of the school bell.

"Uh, I gotta go! Bye," Ruby quickly ran to her classroom, leaving Jaune in the hall.

But as Jaune was about to walk to his class, he saw something on the ground and looked back in Ruby's direction.

Meanwhile, Ruby managed to get inside the class before the bell finished. Glad that she didn’t miss her class, Ruby walked to her desk and sat down. Unfortunately for Ruby, she was quickly reunited with Ciel and the others.

"Hey Ciel, how's your FALL class going?"

"Great, I just got back from a nice TRIP."

Ruby decided that not retaliating was the best course of action for her as she was too tired to try and fight them. Luckily, her torture was not long as everyone stopped talking once the teacher walked in and said, "Good morning, class."

"Good morning Ms. Goodwitch," The entire class said.

"Now, before we begin, I wish to address the recent news regarding the attack on an Institution.”

This news caused whispers among the students.

“Another one?”

“How?”

“I know that some of you have probably heard about the recent events in Montana, so I decided that today's lesson will be on the origin of Grimm. Now, who can tell me where Grimm originate from?"

Ciel raised her hand with a smug grin on her face. Ms. Goodwitch sighed, knowing that she was not going to like Ciel's answer.

“Ciel.”

"It's pretty obvious that Grimm is nothing more than disgusting vermin who crawled out of their little holes to terrorize us normal folks."

All of Ciel's posse and most of the class began laughing at her answer, while Ms. Goodwitch, a small handful, meaning only Ruby, only stared at her.

"You know if you remove half the amount of time it takes you to put on makeup and put it into studying, you might just have an average grade in this class, Miss Soleil."

The class made their various noises as Ciel just rolled her eyes at Ms. Goodwitch's response. Taking this opportunity, Ruby decided to shift the mood and raised her hand.

"Ruby."

"Grimm is a term that is used for individuals who can perform acts of magic."

"Correct. Now, who can tell me about the first report of someone showing these magical abilities?"

Before anyone else could raise their hand, Ruby was quick on the draw. Seeing no one else raising their hand, Goodwitch said, "I guess that it is Ruby again."

"In October 2034, a college student, by the name of Shane McKinnon, was recorded shooting flames out of his hands at cars and at police officers who were trying to detain him. After a conflict between the student and officers that lasted ten minutes, the authorities killed the student. Other recordings show him reaching his hand towards a flaming car and used the Latin term for fire. Seconds later, the flames were sucked from the car, showing the world how Grimm use their magic."

"Correct. Now, who can tell me how we can identify someone who can perform magic?"

Ruby raised her hand yet again.

"Ruby is on a roll today. Go ahead, Ruby."

"People who perform magic have a visual alteration to their eyes."

"And please inform the rest of the class what happens to their eyes?"

"Their eyes turn pitch black with blood-red irises and veins around the eye sockets."

"If you would Ruby, please provide the class with an example of a spell."

_Always go with the spell you know won’t work._

"One example would be the spell 'Lumen' or Light spell. When a Grimm throws sand and says the spell, the sand turns into a blinding light that lasts about twelve seconds. One recorded event with this spell is when a Grimm in Missouri threw sand into the air and used the spell to blind the police to escape."

"Finally, Ruby, other than America, what are the four countries with reports of Grimm, and how have they responded to the issue?"

"The four countries that have reports of Grimm are America, Canada, Japan, and Russia. America and Russia have responded to the issue by detaining those with magic abilities and relocate them to maximum-security institutions. Unlike America and Russia, both Japan and Canada announced in 2035 and 2038 that they would not detain Grimm. Japan released a statement that these abilities can be used to better the people and the planet as a whole. Five years ago, Canada released a statement that any and all Grimm will be allowed to relocate to a new province that they have given to the hidden Grimm community known as Liberteria, which is based on the Latin term for freedom: Liberia. It was in Liberteria where the Grimm formed The Light, which is a controversial group of Grimm who have taken responsibility for the attacks on the Institutions.”

"Great work, as usual, Ruby. Perhaps you can tutor Ciel," Ms. Goodwitch said.

Smiling, Ruby took her seat and looked back at Ciel and her group, pleased with how she humiliated the girl.

_Who would have thought that this little stunt would be the cause of all of what is to come?_


	3. We All Mess Up Eventually

**Chapter 2: Lunchtime**

_Washington, DC_

_December 2nd, 2040_

_11:21 AM_

“What a ridiculous meeting,” Robyn said to herself as she left one of the chambers and proceeded towards her office. Pulling out her phone, she dialed a number and waited only a split second before Fiona answered.

‘Miss Hill, how did the meeting go?’

“The same as we would expect.”

‘Any update about Project Remnant?’

“Just very vague remarks about the checkpoints being set up in the major cities around the country.”

‘Is there anything I can do,’ Fiona asked.

“Not at the moment, but I feel like something is going on. I don’t know what, but I am worried about what is going to happen if I don’t find out. Be ready for when I get back to the office” Robyn said as she hung up.

“Senator Hill.”

Releasing a small exhale, Robyn slowly turned and looked down to see Senator Cordovan.

“Senator Cordovan, what a _pleasant_ surprise.”

“Yes, it is. I was hoping that you would walk with me. I have something to ask you.”

“Very well,” Robyn said,“What do you wish to discuss?”

“I was just wondering what your thoughts were on the news that we just received regarding Project Remnant from Vice President Ebi.”

“I believe that knowing what US cities will have more checkpoints is simply a shroud that is hiding what the truth about Project Remnant’s purpose. I, myself, prefer to know what President Ironwood has ordered our foreign soldiers to do with the Grimm who do get identified.”

“Is this simply to satiate your never ending curiosity or to aid your allies in the north?”

Robyn let out a small chuckle, “So that’s what this is about? Another attempt to try and gain information for your baseless accusations that I am aiding a foreign power?”

“Why ever else would I be having a discussion with you, Senator Hill,” Cordovan gave a compassionately disguised smile.

“You know, Caroline, I must ask: What evidence do you have to back your accusations against me?”

“Well, if you wish to know, I know that ever since you have begun voicing your adamant support of the Grimm, there has been a steady increase Grimm activity. Whenever The Light claim responsibility for the attacks on the Institutions, you withhold any comments regarding their actions.”

“All that I hear are mere observations that have no real leverage. Senators Burns has also made defenses in support of the Grimm.”

“How interesting that you brought this up. As it turns out, I did have something else to tell you. Both Senators Burns is being charged with conspiracy to aid a foreign power.”

Robyn came to a halt and looked at Cordovan, “What are you talking about?”

“The story should be going out now. The FBI apparently raided Senator Burns’ home and found evidence of him aiding The Light. His hardware was also taken in and is currently being decrypted. I wonder how many times they’ll find your name, Miss Hill,” Senator Cordovan said as she walked away.

As she watched Senator Cordovan walk away, Robyn clenched her fists and walked towards her office.

Opening the door, Robyn saw Fiona was waiting for her, “Miss Hill, I just saw something that—”

Fiona was stopped as Robyn has raised her hand and grabbed a piece of paper and a pen, “What is my schedule for today?”

“Uh Miss Hill, I really think that you should see this.”

As Robyn said this, she wrote something down on a piece of paper and said, “I know about Senator Burns.”

“How are we going to—”

“Helping Senator Burns would be a suicide mission for us… he’s on his own…” Robyn put her head down in defeat.

As the two felt this massive loss, they heard a crowing noise and turning to see that Nevermore had returned.

“Nevermore, _Venit_ ,” Robyn said.

The raven fluttered over and Robyn tied the paper to the raven’s feet, “You need to hurry. _Ut ieiunium ut potest_.”

The raven flapped its wings and quickly flew out of the office as Fiona asked, “What did you write?”

“A warning,” Robyn said as she looked to Fiona, “I need to make a few calls.”

_New York City, New York_

_December 2nd, 2040_

_2:35 PM_

Taiyang sat in his office, typing out a few reports of his latest Grimm encounters on his computer, when he heard a knock on his office door.

“Come in,” He said.

Looking towards the doorway, Taiyang saw his current girlfriend and former partner in crime, Raven Branwen, walk in with two cups of coffee.

“Figured that you could use this,” Raven said as she looked at the computer, “What are you working on?”

“The Versailles case.”

“I thought that case was cold.”  
  
“Well after a few reports in Maine, I think that it just warmed up. I think—”

Taiyang turned to explain his theory to his girlfriend when he saw a vision of Summer standing in Raven’s place.

‘ _You cannot stop it_.’

“What,” Taiyang asked.

“I asked you what the lead was,” Raven said.

“Oh… sorry…”

Raven set the coffee cup down and noticed something in his eyes.

“You okay,” Raven asked.

“I thought… I just haven’t been sleeping well these past few nights with all that’s happening.”

Raven looked down and said, “Hey Tai—”

“Hey Tai,” Qrow said as he suddenly barged in, “Hey Raven, we just got a 415H.”

“Animal disturbance? Why are we getting it?”

“Apparently, their kid used a spell that killed the dog.”

Taiyang sighed, “Okay then, let’s get geared up.”

Qrow nodded and proceeded towards the armory as Taiyang looked to Raven.

“You wanted to say something?”

“Oh… It can wait,” Raven said, “Now move your ass… sir.”

Taiyang gave a smirk before following Qrow to the armory.

_2:50 PM_

Taiyang and Qrow were driving to their destination with Raven speaking into their earpieces.

‘We just received some more information.’

“Let’s hear it, Rave,” Qrow said.

‘The family was in their living room when the owners got into an argument with the Grimm. Their son misspoke and casted the fire spell. The father attacked the Grimm and the spell was released at the dog. Since then, the Grimm has been held in their son’s room.’

“What is the relation with the Grimm?”

“It looks like it’s their son.”

“Raven, the information shows the house being in a suburban area. We may need a few NYPD units ready for crowd control.”

‘Already calling available units to stand by. Your ETA is ten minutes.’

“10-4, we’ll report in when we arrive,” Taiyang said.

“…I went to go see her yesterday,” Qrow said.

“…”

“Every time I go in, I think that something is going to happen. As if she is going to be standing on top of the soil and it was all a dream. Then I realize that I am the one dreaming…”

“I… I saw her in my office, standing right where Raven was. She even said something to me…”

“What?”

“She said that I can’t stop it… then she left.”

“Have you been talking to Dr. Leo?”

Taiyang shook his head, “Haven’t for a couple of weeks now.”

“Tai—”

“I am planning on going tomorrow… I just want to get through today.”

“…”

“We’re arriving at our destination,” Taiyang said as he switched the channel to Raven, “Raven, we’re arriving now. Have there been any updates?”

‘The owner said that the Grimm is still locked up in the son’s room. A crowd has gathered outside the home, but the NYPD has apparently been keeping them back. Be careful, you two.’

“10-4. We have eyes on the house. Pulling up now…” Taiyang said.

As the two pulled up to the house, Taiyang and Qrow saw the small crowd’s attention turned to the two task force operatives as they got out of the car.

“He’s just a child,” They heard.

“Get the freak.”

“Shoot him!”

“Let him live!”

_The GDTF have grown used to the mixed voices of the crowds. If it wasn’t a plea for innocence, it was a request for violence._

Once the two reached the door, Taiyang knocked twice and waited.  
  
As the door opened, the two tase force operatives were hit with a foul burning smell as a man stood in the doorway. His eyes were widened… as if he had witnessed Hell itself. His face and clothes hada few sprays of red and his knuckles were purple.

“What is that smell,” Qrow gagged.

“It’s our dog. The monster killed it…” The man said emotionlessly.

“Raven, we are gonna need a disposal team.”

‘On it.’

“Are you here to kill the Grimm?”

“Will the Grimm attack us,” Taiyang asked.

“Doubt it. It’s in my son’s room. It’s the first door on the right.”

As Taiyang proceeded, Qrow took a moment to notice the… features on the man. Looking slightly down the hall, he saw blood on the ground.

“You got a problem,” Qrow looked back at the man to see he had taken a step towards Qrow.

Qrow took a step towards the man, clearly unfazed by the man’s intimidation, “I don’t know. Should I have a problem?”

“Sergeant,” Taiyang said.

Qrow, still staring at the father, proceed towards the room.

“Here we are,” Taiyang said as the two stood on both sides.

“3… 2… 1…” Qrow counted down as he swung the door open and proceeded in with their pistols ready to fire.

Upon entering, Taiyang and Qrow could tell that there was a clear fight in the room, blood on the floor, a glass picture frame broken and on the floor. In the corner of the room was a boy. The boy was curled into a ball, crying as his hands were bleeding and bone was shown piercing through flesh. His clothes were ripped and his mouth was bleeding.

Qrow took the lead and knelt down in front of the boy.

“Hey… kid…”

The boy looked up at him, his black Grimm eyes staring at Qrow with a look of horror as he said, “Who are you?”

“My name is Qrow.”

“Qrow?”

“Yeah, what’s your name?”

“O…Oscar.”

“That’s a neat name, Oscar.”

“Who are you?”

“… We are going to take you somewhere safe. Somewhere you will be taken care of,” Qrow said as he extended his hand.  
  
“W-Where’s Zwei?”

‘Zwei’s their dog,’ The officers heard Raven say.

“…Zwei went away. But don’t worry, he is okay. Your parents called us and now, we are gonna take you somewhere to help you.”

“H…Help?”

“Yeah. Help,” Qrow said as he got closer.

“My father… he…”

“I know… Let me help you to this new place, and I will make sure that he pays, okay,” Qrow asked.

Oscar stared at Qrow’s hand and winced as he reached his own broken hand up and grabbed Qrow’s. Qrow gently lifted the boy up and pulled out his graphene handcuffs.

_Graphene… Our weakness in a way. No spell breaks through it. You get that on you, and it’s game over._

“Now, Oscar, I am gonna need you to put these on as a precaution. There are some people out there and if they don’t see you in these, then they might hurt you, okay,” Qrow said.

Oscar slowly nodded and extended his hands for Qrow to put the handcuffs on. As soon as the cuffs made contact, the lock activated and wrapped around the Grimm’s hands and tightened until the child could not move his fingers.

Qrow and Oscar walked out of the room with Taiyang behind them. As they walked past the family room, Oscar look in to see the smoke coming towards the door.

“Mom? Dad?”

There was no response from either of the parents and Oscar looked down, “It was an accident…”

The three proceeded to the car when the neighbors walked out and screamed, “FREAK!”

“Don’t listen to them!”

“YOU FUCKING MONSTER!”

Qrow picked up the pace and helped Oscar into car as he saw some of the citizens started to get closer, even with the officers acting as crowd control.

“YOU DESERVE TO FUCKING BURN!”  
  
As Qrow began to shut the door, a shoe hit the windshield. Turning to the crowd, Qrow said, “Officers, arrest whoever threw that fucking shoe.”

Taiyang and Qrow got into the car as Taiyang said, “Target secured. Proceeding to Queens Institution.”

_1:45 PM_

The drive to the Institution was filled with a dreaded silence with the few moments where Oscar released a sniffle, the sound of his cuffs jiggled, or the pained inhale as Oscar stared at his hands.

“We’re here,” Taiyang said as they pulled up to the Institution.

Oscar stared outside of the car window at the giant building as Qrow opened the door and offered his hand again.

“Come on,” Qrow said.

“…It was an accident…”

“I know it was. But what you did scares people. The people we’re taking you to are going to help you,” Qrow said.

Oscar stared at Qrow’s hand for a few seconds before taking it and getting out of the car. As the two proceeded to the entry way, Taiyang watched from the driver seat of the car.

‘ _It will begin soon._ ’

Looking towards the voice’s direction, Taiyang saw Summer sitting next to him.

“Summer?”

As she looked at him, Taiyang saw her silver eyes. They were as beautiful as the day she left.

“ _She will be confused… scared… lost…_ ”

“Who?”

Those silver eyes slowly swelled up as tears cascaded down Summer’s cheeks, “ _She will die._ ”

Before Taiyang could say another word, Summer vanished before his eyes. Taiyang wiped his eyes and saw that he had begun crying. As he wiped his tears away, Taiyang looked towards the entry way of the Institution open up and the head of this institution approach Qrow and Oscar.

“Dr. Grey,” Qrow said, “we have another Grimm for you.”  
  
“Yes, I can see that… ooh I can’t wait to run some tests on you, my new little friend. This way,” Dr. Grey released a small giggle as she snapped her fingers.

In an instant, two armed officers approached Oscar and grabbed him by the cuffs.

“Get moving freak,” One of the officers said as he pushed Oscar forward.

“Hey, that isn’t necessary,” Qrow said.

“You need not worry about it anymore, officer. As always, we appreciate your service,” Dr. Grey said as she walked back into the Institution.

Once they crossed a barrier, the doors rose back up, sealing that child away with the “good doctor”.

_Uncle Qrow told me once that he went inside of the Institution once. What he said haunted me for weeks. The cells were made of solid concrete. There were no lights in the cells. No bedding to sleep on. No… No toilets… Nothing that could be used by spells against the guards. The prisoners were forced to wear bindings around their mouths to refrain from casting spells. Stripped naked to prevent hiding contraband and chained to the walls to prevent any sudden movements._

_I think everyone knew what those places were… Hell itself._

_He told me that if he had to choose between death by drinking lava or live in an Institution, he would drink the lava like whiskey._

As Qrow got back into the car, he saw Taiyang’s confused expression and his irritated eyes.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, I thought… never mind, let’s go back to the precinct.”

3 _:50 PM_

As the final bell rang, Ruby was finishing up her final notes of the day. Once she was done, she began to pack up her bag when she realized something… horrible.

The book was gone.

‘Where is it?! WHERE IS IT,’ Ruby screamed to herself.

Ruby looked on her desk, in her desk, and in her bag multiple times… nothing.

As she got up, Ruby quickly began to walk out into the halls and towards the stairs.

‘FUCK FUCK FUCK… FUCK,” Ruby repeated in her head as she proceeded down the staircase, feeling her heart rate spiraling out of controlling.

Feeling like she was going to pass out, Ruby ran into the nearest bathroom. Running into an open stall, she kneeled down and threw up into the toilet.

“Oh fuck…” Ruby said to herself.

“Ruby?”

Ruby swung around and saw…

“Jaune,” Ruby asked, “What are you doing in here?!”

“You realize that you’re in the boys bathroom, right?”

Ruby looked behind him and saw multiple urinals on the wall.

“Oh fuck… I gotta get out of here,” Ruby said as she began to get up.

“Are you looking for this…”

Ruby stopped dead in her tracks as she slowly turned to Jaune, who had her translation book in his hand.

“Jaune… give that to me.”

“I wonder what would happen if I… open it.”

“STOP!”

  
Jaune released a chuckle, “Relax, I already know.”

“…”

“You could have gone with a better disguise than your diary though,” Jaune said as he tossed her the book.

Catching it, Ruby quickly placed the book inside of her bag and stared at him, “If you know, then why am I not in cuffs?”

Jaune looked to the urinal next to him, aimed his hand at it, and said, “ _Aqua_.”

Ruby watched as Jaune’s eyes turned from white and brown to black and red as the water from the toilet flew towards Jaune’s hand, all while he continued staring right at Ruby.

“So… you’re…”

“Like you,” Jaune said as he opened his hand, letting the water fall to the ground.

  
Feeling the weight of everything hit her at once, Ruby slowly backed up until she hit the bathroom stall door.

“I… I need to get home,” Ruby said as she proceeded towards the door.

“They’re going to kill us, Ruby,” Jaune said.

That caused Ruby to freeze in her tracks.

“What,” Ruby asked as she turned to Jaune.

“I can’t prove it… but I think that Project Remnant is a genocide for Grimm. Think about it. They are setting up hundreds of military checkpoints and detainment camps around the country, but they are silent about what will happen to the Grimm inside.”

“That doesn’t prove anything.”

“Senator Burns thought this… and he was just arrested,” Jaune said as he handed Ruby his phone.

Grabbing it, Ruby read the contents.

_‘Senator Burns Arrested for Aiding Grimm Terrorist Organization’_

“What about Senator Hill,” Ruby asked.

“I don’t know if she was involved or not, but the project’s activation was just pushed forward another day.”

“No… No, the Senate wouldn’t approve of such a project.”

“That’s why they haven’t been told anything. They think it’s just a final phase of weeding out all of the Grimm in the country.”

“…”

“I don’t know about you, but I am not risking the odds.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m leaving. I got into contact with a group of The Light. They are in Burlington and they agreed to help me get across the border to Liberteria.”

“Well, that’s good for you…” Ruby said.

“You should come with me.”

His sudden request surprised Ruby, “Ex-fucking-cuse me?”

“Ruby—”

“You expect me to just go with you, someone I don’t even know across three states to… to try and cross the border. Are you fucking kidding me?”

“So you would rather stay here and risk the odds?”

“Look, I was not expect you to say yes right away. Just… let me give you something,” Jaune saidas he pulled out a notepad and wrote something down on the corner of the paper before ripping it.

“Take it,” He said.

Ruby slowly did so and read the contents of it and asked, “What is this?”

“It’s the address to a park and a number that you can reach me with. I am going to pack and prepare for the trip and will be at that spot at 9:15. If you aren’t there by 9:30, then I’m gone,” Jaune walked to the door and stopped just as he grabbed the handle, “If you think you’re going to be fine, just remember that we had this conversation because you fucked up.”

As Jaune left the room, Ruby began to feel her anxiety come back and ran back into the stall to throw up.

_4:01 PM_

As Ruby walked out of the bathroom, she wiped her mouth with a paper towel as she asked herself, “Fuck…What am I gonna do?”

“Oh my god, what do we have here?”

Ruby rolled her eyes as she saw Ciel and her gang with their phones out, “Well, I guess we now know why our dear little ass kisser gets her grades.”

“I’m not in the mood, Ciel,” Ruby said as she took a step towards the door.

“Oh come on, Rubes, you need to lighten up a bit,” Ciel said, “Like your mom.”

Ruby came to a halt and slowly turned to Ciel, “What did you say?”

“I said… you need to lighten up a bit like your mom.”

In an instant… Ruby snapped. Reaching her hand up, Ruby said, “ _Electricae_.”

Ciel’s phone suddenly began to spark out right in her head, causing her to scream and throw the phone to the ground. As soon as the phone made contact with the ground, the screen cracked open and the small collection of electricity flew to Ruby’s hand, her eyes black and red and filled with anger.

Ruby moved her arm back and forward again, sending the charge of electricity directly into Ciel’s chest. The charge sent Ciel back a few feet and landed directly on the floor, causing the other girls to scream and flee.

Ruby looked up and used the same spell on the school light, draining a much more powerful amount of electricity. Running up, Ruby reeled her arm back when Ciel raised her arms.

“PLEASE NO,” Ciel begged.

_I wanted to do it… God knows how badly I wanted to just send that bolt right at her. But then… my senses had returned to me… and I was filled with horror at the sight that lay before me…_

Ruby sent the electricity at the wall to her direct right and stared at Ciel. Realizing that this was a moment where she was allowed to go, Ciel stood up and screamed, “Y-You’re a freak, Rose! A freak!”

Realizing what she had done… Ruby did what she could… she ran.


	4. Should I Stay or Should I Go

_Queens, New York_

_December 2nd, 2040_

_4:13 PM_

Lieutenant Taiyang sat in his office, writing up a report on the boy that he and Qrow had detained, as Raven walked in while wearing her casual attire.

“Hey,” Raven said.

“Hey there,” Taiyang said as he looked towards Raven, “You look nice.”

“Thanks, I figured that I would dress up since we still have that reservation at Lindsay’s Diner at six.”

“Oh crap, is it that time already,” Taiyang asked as he looked at the clock, “Why don’t we meet at my place at five. I want to finish this report up and grab my jacket.”

“Sounds good. Maybe Ruby can tag along too,” Raven said.

“If it’s Lindsay’s Diner, then Ruby will definitely be there,” Taiyang chuckled.

_Queens, New York_

_December 2nd, 2040_

_4:50 PM_

_Have you ever wondered what it feels like to know that you have placed a nationwide target on your back? What it feels like to constantly look over your shoulder, knowing that someone would be right behind you, getting ready to take you down?_

Shortly after she attacked Ciel, Ruby ran as fast as she could from the school. Running through an alleyway, Ruby tripped on some uneven pavement and collapsed to the ground, sobbing as she slowly got up. As she slowly got up, Ruby slipped and fell against a wall. As Ruby felt her life spiraling, Ruby felt something on her pants. Looking, she saw that her leg was in a puddle.

Looking into the muddied water, Ruby saw her reflection. Her scraped face, her Grimm eyes… she was a monster. Placing her hands over her eyes, Ruby mumbled the same spell… even if it was pointless now.

Feeling her phone buzz, Ruby slowly pulled it out and saw the notification.

‘Hey, Raven and I are going to be coming by to grab something. We’ll be there around 5.’ — Dad

Ruby closed her eyes as she lowered her arm.

Then she remembered something… Reaching into her other pocket, she pulled out the piece of paper that Jaune had handed her.

Looking at her phone and the paper… Ruby made a decision.

_4:55 PM_

Jaune was packing his bags when he heard his mother call out, “Jaune, what are you going to be back from Cardin’s?”

“It’s an overnight, so maybe tomorrow morning?”

“Okay, just make sure that you have enough.”  
  
“Okay, mom,” Jaune said.

As Jaune zipped up his bag, he saw his phone light up.

‘Unknown Number’

Answering it, Jaune asked, “Hello?”

‘J-Jaune?’

“Ruby?”

‘Is…Is your offer s-still standing?’

Jaune’s eyes widened as he said, “Of course. Why?”

‘Something… Something’s happened…’

“What?”

‘I… I…’

Hearing Ruby sound like she is going to have a panic attack, Jaune said, “Never mind, you don’t have to tell me now. What I need you to do is to pack and meet me at that address. Do you think that what you did will be reported?”

‘…Yes.’

“Shit… Okay, I was given a few numbers to help in case of that. Just head home, pack, and leave. Do you have some place to stay for maybe an hour or so?”

‘…There’s one place.’

“Okay. I’ll call you back when I get more information.”

‘Jaune?’

“What?”

‘Thank you…’

Jaune responded by hanging up and releasing a small exhale.

“Fuck…”

Composing himself, Jaune went to his drawer, pulled out a burner phone, and called another number.

_Washington, DC_

_December 2nd, 2040_

_5:04 PM_

Senator Hill was in her office, on the phone with another senator, discussing the incarceration of Senator Burns.

“Robyn, even you must admit that Burnie was an idiot for not realizing that he had eyes watching him,” The senator said.

“Burns did what he thought was right, just like what you and I are doing, Senator Skout.”

“I am not sure if the risk is worth it anymore, Robyn.”

“What do you mean?”

Before Senator Skout could respond, Fiona gave a small knock and said, “Miss Hill?”

“Come in, Fiona. We will discuss this at a later time, Senator Skout.”

“I agree,” Senator Skout said as Robyn ended the call.

Fiona entered the room, holding a phone and said, “Miss Hill, we have a possible Code 117-3. I made sure that the line was secure.”

“Thank you, Fiona,” Robyn said as she grabbed the phone, “What are you looking for?”

‘That which hides in plain sight,’ Jaune’s voice said on the other line.

“And when you cannot find what is hiding in plain sight?”

‘You look for The Light.’

Robyn gave a small nod to Fiona and asked, “Who am I speaking to?”

‘My name is Jaune Arc. I was given a list of numbers to call by Elder Hazel.’

“I am Senator Robyn Hill. Elder Hazel and I have been working together to help more of your kind cross. What is the issue.”

’S-Senator Hill? I… ahem, sorry. Someone… like me has been discovered. I was told that you can help with this type of situation.’

“I understand, now where are you from?”

‘New York, Senator.’

“That’s good. And what is the name of this person.”

‘Ruby Rose.’

“Well, Jaune Arc, I have my sources are limited at the moment, but I can see what I can do. Although, I suggest that you two leave as soon as possible.”

‘Yes, Senator.’

Robyn hung up the phone and handed it back to Fiona, who quickly snapped it in half and removed the battery. As she placed the pieces back in her pocket, Robyn said, “Fiona, run Code 117-3 and Code 117-2 on a Ruby Rose.”

_Queens, New York_

_December 2nd, 2040_

_5:12 PM_

Ruby ran down the familiar street and saw both Raven and her father’s cars parked out front. Composing herself and looking at herself in her phone’s reflection, Ruby saw that she was dirty, but human.

Walking up the steps, Ruby stood just outside of the house, feeling her heart racing. She was relying solely on luck in this moment. As she slowly grabbed the doorknob, Ruby took one last breath and opened the door.

Penny was cleaning the kitchen up when she saw Ruby walk in. Turning to the hallway, Penny yelled, ‘Master Long! Miss Branwen! Miss Rose is back.’

Hearing a hallway door open, Ruby waited only a few seconds before seeing Taiyang and Raven run in.

“Ruby, oh thank god…” Taiyang said as he pulled Ruby in for a hug.

“Ruby, what happened?”

Taiyang leaned back and saw how messy Ruby was, “Ruby?”

“N-Nothing… I just tripped on the way here.”

“You’ve been gone for almost an hour. Ruby… what happened?”

“I said I tripped! The subway was late, so I decided to walk home.”

Taiyang and Raven looked at one another and backed away from Ruby.

“We’ll talk about this when we get back, okay,” Taiyang said as he stood up.

“Where are you going,” Ruby asked.

“We’re going to Lindsay’s Diner. Want to come with,” Raven asked.

“Oh… S-Sorry, I have a test tomorrow, and I really need study for it.”

“What? You never mentioned that you had a test tomorrow,” Taiyang said.

“Yeah, I completely forgot. Sorry…”

“Well what are you doing talking to us,” Taiyang chuckled.

“Sorry… maybe next time…” Ruby said.

“We’ll bring you some of those cookies to help keep you awake, eh,” Taiyang said.

“Yeah…” Ruby said as she proceeded to her room.

As she kept pushing herself to move forward, Ruby felt like she could just break down at any moment. Slowly opening her bedroom door, Ruby walked in and quickly shut the door. Locking it, Ruby walked up to her bed, grabbed the photo of her mother and stared at it.

“Mom… help me…” Ruby mumbled as she felt the tears begin to stream down her cheeks.

Feeling a buzzing feeling in her pocket, Ruby wiped her eyes and pulled her phone out.

‘Unkown Caller’

Assuming that it was Jaune, Ruby answered it.

“J-Jaune?”

‘Hello Ruby, I am—’

Just by the voice, Ruby recognized her immediately, “Senator Hill?”

‘Our mutual acquaintance reached out to me and told me about your… incident.’

“O-Okay?”

‘Before I make my decision, I am going to need you to answer a few questions for me.’

“Anything.”

‘How were you caught?’

“…I attacked someone.”

‘Was it self defense?’

“…No.”

‘An accident?’

“Yes.”

‘Is it true that you are related to Qrow Rose and Taiyang Xiao Long?’

“…Y-Yes.”

‘Why should I believe that this isn’t a new tactic by the GDTF?’

“…Every day, my father makes me say that if I ever encounter another Grimm, I should run away from ‘ the nasty terrorist as soon as possible.’ Imagine having to call yourself a terrorist every morning without being able to defend yourself. Imagine having to keep repeating that line every single day… and now… I just want to leave.”

  
There was a brief silence from Robyn’s end and Ruby began to fear the worst until Robyn said, ‘…Okay. I will send word tonight. As for now, you will rendezvous with our mutual acquaintance and head to the location we provided to him. As for your relations to the GDTF, I can see what I can do. I assume that you understand that this call never took place?’

“Yes, Senator.”

‘Good. Then this is goodbye for now. _Bonus fortuna_ , Miss Rose.’

“Thank you, Senator Hill,” Ruby said as she hung up her phone.

After that, Ruby sat there and processed what had just happened. Looking down at the photo of her mother, Ruby saw her own reflection in the glass. Her cheek was scraped, her eyes were irritated from crying… her face showed the amount of fear she felt.

_God help me…_

_5:31 PM_

Raven and Taiyang were driving to their reservation while while Raven was talking about Ruby.

“I don’t know… she seemed off, didn’t she?”

“What, you think she was picked on at school or something,” Taiyang asked.

“Maybe. I don’t know, it just seemed like she was not telling us something.”

“I’ll ask her again before bed. Maybe she’s embarrassed by what happened?”

Raven looked straight ahead, unsure if that was truly what was going on.

_5:32 PM_

Ruby opened her closet and pulled out a large backpack and placed it on her bed before she went to her closet and drawers and pulled out three days of clothing, with some extra clothing for when it gets very cold. After that, Ruby snuck into the bathroom, while Penny was cleaning the main entry way, and grabbed her hygienic supplies and her brush. After grabbing all of that, Ruby went back to her closet and pulled out two pairs of shoes. After packing those supplies into her side pocket, Ruby realized that there was one last item that she should grab.

Walking up to her school backpack, Ruby opened it and grabbed her translation book.

'Now for tonight…' Ruby thought to herself.

_5:45 PM_

Ruby stared at herself in the mirror, wearing a pair of black denim jeans, a white tank top with a black shirt to cover, her red hoodie, and a black jacket for the cold weather.

She had her bag packed. She was dressed for the cold, and she was ready to go. Looking at the clock now, she had almost two hours until she would meet with Jaune.

Pulling the paper that Jaune gave her out of her previous pants pocket, Ruby pulled out her phone and typed in the address.

'It's too far on foot, and even if it wasn't, it could get pretty dangerous out there at night,’ Ruby thought to herself. Ruby then tried looking at the trains and saw that even if she took the next train that left in three minutes, it was, again, the issue with people at night. That left one option.

Ruby opened her transportation app, InstaCab Services. Typing the address that the paper had, Ruby saw the distance and decided to add a stop.

‘Two destinations confirmed. Please confirm payment.’

Ruby had her finger over the button for what felt like ages before she finally pressed ‘confirm’.

'Thank you for your purchase! Your vehicle will arrive shortly.’

Ruby wrapped her bag around her shoulders and proceeded out into the entryway. As she was walking it into the kitchen/entryway area, Ruby saw Penny with a plate of food.

'Miss Rose, where are you going? I just finished making you a nutritious dinner.’

“I-I'm going out, Penny. I’ll have it when I get back,” Ruby said as she proceeded to the door.

‘Where are you going so that I might tell Master Long when he returns?’

“Just out, Penny,” Ruby snapped.

‘Miss Rose, if you will not tell me where you are going at this hour, then I will ask Master Long,’ Penny said.

Ruby stopped just in front of the door and closed her eyes before turning to Penny.

‘Miss Rose?’

“I…I’m sorry.”

Before Penny could respond, Ruby used the electric spell on Penny. Ruby watched with tears flowing down her cheeks as Penny's body began to twitch, her eyes began to shutter open and closed, as Penny’s power drained into Ruby’s hand.

When the energy finished being drained, Ruby quickly flung the spell at the wall, putting a rather large burn mark in the spot where it landed.

Ruby stared at Penny’s body with her Grimm eyes as Penny looked at her and asked, 'M-M-M-Miss Rose-e-e… you’re…’

“I’m so sorry…” Ruby said as she held Penny’s hand.

‘M-Miss…’ Penny said one last time before Ruby heard the sound of Penny powering down.

Letting go of Penny’s hand, Ruby stood up and ran to the sink and threw up.

“Oh god…” Ruby said as she wiped her mouth.

As she was washing the vomit down the sink, Ruby felt a buzz from her pocket. Pulling out her phone, Ruby saw the notification.

‘Your vehicle has arrived and shall depart in five minutes.’

Ruby wiped her eyes, picked her bag back up, and walked to the door. But as she grabbed the door, Ruby looked back one last time and said, “I’m sorry…”

Opening the door, Ruby saw the InstaCab was waiting for her on the street. Walking down the steps, Ruby felt like she was going to faint. But before she knew it, Ruby was at the cab. Opening the door, Ruby sat inside and set her bag next to her.

‘Confirmation for destination.’

“St. John’s Cemetery.”


	5. A Walk in the Park

_December 2nd, 2040_

_6:01 PM_

Taiyang and Raven were having their dinners and enjoying each other’s company, discussing funny stories of the old days.

“And so the door swings open, and I see Ruby running up and down the hall as Penny chases her because Ruby jumped out of the bath.”

Raven and Taiyang began laughing as Tai continued eating. As he finished his meal, he looked at Raven’s plate and asked, “You okay? You’ve barely touched your food.”

“Oh…” Raven said as she looked down at her almost full plate, “I uh… I just have a lot on my mind.”

“What is it?”

“Well…”

Before Raven could continue, Tai’s phone began to buzz. Looking at his phone, Tai’s brow narrowed as he said, “It’s Chief Schnee.”

“Well what are you waiting for? Answer it.”

“Chief, what can I— hold on, slow down. What? No, that’s… Yes, I will absolutely be there in a moment,” Taiyang said as he hung up.

“What was that about,” Raven asked.

“I don’t know.”

_6:40 PM_

Taiyang and Raven walked up to Jacques’ door and knocked.

“Come in.”

As Taiyang and Raven opened the door, they saw Jacques sitting at his desk, his coat on the floor and his expression was anger as he looked at them and chuckled, “Oh Tai, you have no idea what fucking shit storm you have just landed on my desk. Sergeant Branwen, please step outside and close the door.”

Taiyang looked to Raven and nodded before proceeding towards Jacques desk. Meanwhile, Raven walked back out of the room and shut the door behind her.

Taking a seat, Jacques looked at Taiyang and said, “You know, I was enjoying a nice dinner with my wife after we spoke with our daughter for the first time since she was transferred to Afghanistan. But as I was about to end my perfect day, I suddenly get a call form Mr. Soleil, who starts screaming and threatening to sue the department after his daughter came home with a giant burn mark on her stomach, screaming that your daughter, lieutenant, almost killed her."

“This has to be some mistake.”

“Oh, is that so? Well, I said the exact same thing and he sent these photos to me,” Jacques said as he slid a cluster of photos to Taiyang.

Taiyang looked at the photos and saw the markings on Ciel’s abdomen.

“No… This can’t be…”

“I have three other girls reporting the same thing.”

Leaning back in his chair, Taiyang began to recall Ruby’s reaction… why she was late… it all made sense. But a part of him still held on the idea that this couldn’t be real.

“No… No, I don’t believe it.”

“…Bring Ruby to the precinct. I’ll have her take a Grimm test.”

“I’ll call Qrow. He can get to the house before me,” Taiyang said as he pulled out his phone.

“Tai.”

Taiyang looked at Jacques as he said, “If this is true, I expect you both to do your jobs.”

“…”

_6:50 PM_

Qrow was sitting in his apartment, and listening to someone speaking from a video on Qrow’s phone.

‘And what did Uncle Qrow get you? *Gasp*Go on, Ruby, what is it,’ Summer asked.

‘A dolly,’ Qrow gave a small chuckle as he sipped his cup of bourbon and watched Ruby giggling while lifting the doll up and down.

‘Yeah, I was walking home and saw an ad on one of those billboards in the subway. I thought that she might like it.’

‘Qrow’s a pretty neat uncle huh?’

‘Yeah.’

‘What do you say to Uncle Qrow?’

‘Thank you, Uncle Qrow.’

Qrow laid back and skimmed back through his phone to another video. This video showed a very young Qrow walking around a small apartment that was packed with boxes. The same apartment that Qrow currently lived in.

‘Well that looks like all of it,’ The young Qrow said as he looked towards the camera and chuckled, ‘What are you doing?’

‘Filming you, what does it look like I’m doing,’ Summer chuckled.

‘Come here,’ Qrow laughed as he charged the camera.

‘NO,’ Summer laughed before the camera shut off.

Moving to the next video, Qrow refilled his drink as he played the video. This time, both of the siblings were in front of the camera, being very awkward.

‘Hey future us, it’s er… past us. We just finished unpacking all of our bags and now… this is where Summer and I will be staying until we achieve our dream of living in a big empty mansion.’

‘It isn’t much, but it’s not like we had much to begin with,’ Summer said, ‘Besides, I think we can make this place work. We put some nice posters up here and a disco ball here.’

‘Oh, we’re getting a disco ball?’

‘Hell yeah, for party night.’

Qrow chuckled as he put an arm around his sister and said, ‘For now, we just need each other to survive. It’s been enough to get us this far.’

Before the video could continue, Qrow’s phone began to ring and paused the clip. Qrow groaned as he answered it and said, “Qrow Rose speak—”

“Qrow. I need you to go to my house immediately and grab Ruby.”

“What? Why? Where are you?”

“Just do it,” Taiyang’s harsh reaction confused Qrow.

“What’s going on… hello," Qrow looked at his phone to see that Taiyang had already hung up.

As Qrow placed his phone down, he heard the last bit of the video play out.

‘As long as we have each other, nothing can stop the Rose siblings.’

_7:12 PM_

‘Thank you for using InstaCabs, the transportation of the future. Please take caution in stepping out of the vehicle.’

“Yeah, yeah… ugh fuck, my head…” Qrow groaned as he walked up to the door of the Long household.

As Qrow grabbed the hidden key and opened the door and saw what the entry way looked like, his eyes widened and said, “Oh my god…”

Walking up to the body of Penny, he tapped the forehead of the android and asked, “Ruby… what have you done?”

_7:21 PM_

  
The cab pulled up to Saint John’s Cemetery and the automated voice said, ‘How long will the stop be?’

“Fifteen minutes…” Ruby said.

‘Confirmed. Fifteen minutes until departure.’

Stepping out of the cab, Ruby walked inside of the cemetery to a very specific location. Walking in front of the specific tombstone, Ruby said, “Hi mom… I… I’m sorry that I haven’t come by since… well, since I found out what I was. I can see that Qrow has been keeping the flowers fresh… that’s good.”

Silence was Summer’s response.

“Dad’s… well… he hasn’t been the same since you left. I think that he still blames himself for what happened. I think we all blame ourselves in some way. But he’s getting better. In fact, it feels like any day now, he and Raven will move in together. N-Not that he’s forgotten you… its just… he’s getting better.”

Ruby heard her phone buzz and reached into her pocket and pulled it out to see the notification.

‘Dad: eighteen missed calls’

‘Qrow: seven missed calls’

‘InstaCab: Five minutes remaining before departure’

“I’m glad that I was able to come, but I think that this will be the last time that I will be visiting, at least for a very long time. I’m… leaving, and I don’t think I will be back for some time,” Ruby said as she placed the phone on Summer’s grave, “I just wanted to come here… to uh… to say goodbye. To say that I’m sorry for not visiting as many times as I could have. I’m sorry because of what I am… and I hope that when I see you again, whether here or… well, somewhere else, things would be a little less crazy.”  
  
Kneeling down and placing a kiss on the tombstone, Ruby felt tears stream down her face as she came as close as she could to hugging her mother. Standing back up, Ruby walked away, leaving her phone and a note behind.

“Goodbye mom…” Ruby said as she walked back to the cab.

_7:30 PM_

Taiyang was driving as fast as he could through the streets of Queens as he was heading towards his house. As he drove, he could hear _her_ voice.

‘The flower is gone… terrified and alone in the world of monsters.’

“Shut up,” Taiyang said as he turned the corner towards his street. As he pulled up to the house, he saw Qrow standing outside, waiting for him.

Stepping out of the car, Taiyang asked, “Where’s Ruby?”

“She isn’t here. Also…” Qrow looked back towards the house and said, “Penny was shut down… and there was a burn mark on the wall.”

“What,” Taiyang asked as he walked past Qrow into the house.

Upon entering, Taiyang saw Penny plugged into the wall and the burn mark that was just above her.

“I searched the entire house, Tai. She isn’t here.”

“Well, where did she go?”

“I figure that our mechanical friend here knows. She’s been recharging ever since I got here, but she won’t activate.”

Taiyang walked up to Penny and pressed the power button that was located on her neck.

‘Vocal recognition required.’

“Unit activation,” Taiyang said.

‘Vocal recognition valid. Re-activating.’

Within seconds, Penny seemed to return as she suddenly yelled, ‘Miss Rose!’

“Penny, it’s us.”

‘Master Xiao Long, Mister Rose, I apologize. Something terrible has happened with Miss Rose.'

"We know. We’re trying to find her. Access your recordings to the last interaction that you had with Ruby.”

Penny nodded and projected an image of her last conversation with Ruby on the wall.

_'Miss Rose, where are you going? I just finished making you a nutritious dinner.’_

_“I-I'm going out, Penny. I’ll have it when I get back.”_

_‘Where are you going so that I might tell Master Long when he returns?’_

_“Just out, Penny.”_

“She’s panicking,” Qrow said.

“She was acting strange when she got back home… an hour later than usual.”

_‘Miss Rose, if you will not tell me where you are going at this hour, then I will ask Master Long,’ Penny said._

The in-laws watched as Ruby slowly turned to Penny and knew what likely happened next. Qrow shut his eyes and Taiyang looked away as Ruby used the spell.

_‘Miss Rose?’_

_“I…I’m sorry.”_

“That’s enough, Penny…” Taiyang said, “Power down and recharge…”

‘Yes, Master Long,’ Penny said as she powered down again.

“Ruby’s a Grimm…” Taiyang said again.

Qrow looked at the door and said, “She left in a hurry… and she’s—”

“Terrified… and alone…” Taiyang said.

“Maybe she made a mistake.”

Taiyang pulled out his phone and looked at the tracking app for the family.

“It says that she’s at… St. John’s,” Taiyang said as he looked at Qrow.

“Let’s go.”

_8:01 PM_

“Fucking traffic…” Taiyang said as they pulled up to the cemetery.

“Tracker’s still showing that she’s there.”

Qrow noticed Taiyang pull out his gun and grabbed his arm, “What are you doing?”

“She’s a Grimm, we can’t take any chances.”

“It’s Ruby…”

“Let’s go,” Taiyang said as he shook Qrow’s arm off of him and proceeded out of the car.

The two walked into the cemetery and approached Ruby’s position from different angles to prevent her escape. But when they reached their destination, they saw that they had fallen for Ruby’s trap.

Qrow walked up and picked up Ruby’s phone and shook it in Taiyang’s direction.

“She remembered the tracker.”

“Fuck… Fuck,” Taiyang yelled.

Qrow then saw the letter and picked it up.

‘I never wanted this… I’m sorry. — Ruby Rose’

“Wait… how long has the tracker said that she was in this position,” Taiyang asked as he pulled out his phone.

“What are you thinking?”

“I think… Ruby used… InstaCab,” Taiyang said as he showed a payment confirmation showing the location of Ruby’s next possible location, “Let’s go."  
  
“Tai.”

Taiyang turned to Qrow and asked, “What?”

“We have to call it in.”

“We don’t have time, Qrow. Ruby could be meeting with other Grimm.”

“And if that is the case, then we would be running in without backup, armor, or proper weapons.”

“…” Taiyang looked at his phone and called Raven.

“Raven… it’s me. Report to Chief Schnee that we have a a G-10-41. Ruby Rose is a Grimm. I repeat. Ruby Rose is a Grimm. Sergeant Rose and I have tracked her LKP to Flushing Meadows Corona Park. Requesting backup…”

_8:12 PM_

‘I appreciate your cooperation, Schnee,’ Schnee heard as he hung up the phone.

“FUCK,” he screamed as he shoved the phone off of his desk as Raven entered the office.

“Chief?”

“Please tell me some good news, Branwen.”

“Ruby is a Grimm…”

“Fuck… what else?”

“Rose and Long currently have the LKP of Ruby, but believe that they will need backup.”

“Well, I just got a call from Senator Hill. Apparently someone spilled the beans to her about your boyfriend’s kid.”

“What did she say?”

“I don’t know how, but she knows about Ruby. One of the parents must have called. Fuck… She knows how much damage a GDTF’s kid being a Grimm would case to the precinct, so she and I have… _agreed_ to refrain from using a BOLO until tomorrow morning. We need to get this done as fast as we can to lessen the backlash. ”

“With something this big… I trust a few of our task force members.”

“I can’t send any officers based on speculation, especially with something as sensitive as this. Have Rose and Long confirm Ruby’s whereabouts and then I can send reinforcements. Last thing I need is to explain why I sent two squads to an empty location while searching for a Grimm who is the daughter of the GDTF’s CO.”

“…Yes sir.”

_8:42 PM_

'Thank you for using InstaCabs, the transportation of the future. Please take caution in stepping out of the vehicle.'

Grabbing her bag, Ruby stepped out of the cab and stared at the entrance to the park. It wasn't gated or locked; the only thing stopping her was a small chain with a 'Closed' sign at the center. After sliding under the chain, Ruby stared into the almost pitch black park, took a deep breath, and proceeded inside. It was so dark with the only sources of light being lampposts that were about ten feet apart from one another. Rounding a corner, Ruby reached a railing that faced a small pond that seemed newly added and a little water shooter system beside it. Looking at her map application, Ruby saw that she was at the center of the park.

"Jaune? Jaune, I'm here."

Ruby's whispers were met with silence. Ruby walked up and placed her hands on the cold metal railing and stared at the small pond. Its surface had a small ring of ice brushing against the hard concrete. However, the water was still pitch black reflection of the night sky, showing a near-perfect reflection of Ruby.

_As I stared at my reflection, it felt like I was staring at a complete stranger. As if I had become this new person… a criminal… an outlaw like some of those old movies and games dad had me watch._

Not wanting to stare at her reflection anymore, Ruby looked around to see a bench facing the pond. Ruby decided that resting might help her, so she sat down. However, all she felt was her heart finishing a marathon. As she had a moment to herself, she let out a sharp exhale as she felt the weight of today’s events overwhelm her as she felt the tears stream down her face for what felt like the thousandth time this day.

_Dad… I never wanted this to happen. I am sorry. I don’t think I’ve ever told you how sorry I am about everything. I’m sorry about mom and I am sorry about me. I hope that one day, you can understand why I left… not because I didn't want to be taken. But because I didn't want to die._

"I… I'm so sorry, dad…"

As Ruby said those words, she felt a hand on her shoulder and using a basic defense move from her dad, Ruby grabbed the hand and delivered a swift elbow to the chest of her alleged attacker.

“AGH," The man cried as they backed away from Ruby.

"Back up, I don't want to hurt you," Ruby said as she got into another defensive stance that her father taught her.

“Jesus, Ruby, it's me!"

"Jaune?"

Jaune wore a puffy black jacket and denim jeans and a beanie. On his back was a backpack similar to Ruby's, except his bag looked a bit lighter.

"God… you pack a nasty elbow," He groaned, “what were you crying about?"

"I'd rather not talk about it…"

Jaune could see in her eyes that she was hurting. Placing his hand on her shoulder once again, he nodded.

"I get it…”

"I'm sorry, I just… I feel like I'm losing my mind."

"Every moment leading up to this, I was keeping an eye on everything, and by my calculations, everything is going as planned… I take it you're here because you want to come with?"

“It’s not like I have much of a choice anymore…”

"So… two Grimm on the run days before they call for our extinction. How dramatic…" Jaune said, "I will admit, the journey won't be easy, but it's better than waiting to die. And if we work together, then we can make it. Are you ready?"

Jaune looked to Ruby and extended his hand. Ruby stared at it and slowly began to reach for it, when the they heard, "G.D.T.F., PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR!"

Ruby and Jaune held their hands up high as they saw the two people in front of them.

“Dad? Uncle Qrow,” Ruby asked.

“Dad? Uncle,” Jaune asked.

“You two are under arrest for the suspicion of committing Grimm based terrorism.”

"How did you find us," Jaune asked.

“Ruby’s cab ride here left a pretty solid trail,” Taiyang said.

"You paid for a fucking cab ride here," Jaune asked, dumbfounded.

"I…"

"Enough!" Taiyang yelled, "Ruby Rose, you and your accomplice are under arrest. You will be taken to the nearest G.D.T.F department where you will be tested if you are Grimm. If you are found to be a Grimm, you will be… you will be taken to an institution where you will treated for your disease. Qrow, call it in to Raven.”

"Tai—"

“Now, Sergeant Rose," Taiyang yelled.

“…Yes, sir,” Qrow said as he began to walk away.

“Uncle Qrow…”

Qrow looked towards Ruby and saw the look in her eyes… fear. Looking away, Qrow said, “I’m sorry kid.”

“You know, Raven thought something was different about you when you came home. The way you acted, the scrapes on your hands… now it all makes sense."

"Dad, they are going to kill us."

“The Institution isn’t going to kill you, Ruby," Taiyang said.

“Oh right, they are just going to help us by strapping us to walls and torturing us until we suddenly become like you humans, right?”

“I would shut the fuck up if I were you,” Taiyang said.

“You say they help us, but no Grimm that has entered an Institution has left alive or ‘cured’,” Jaune said.

“I swear to god, boy, I—”

“I would rather die than go there, old man,” Jaune said.

“Ruby, you would go with this… this freak?”

“Oh wow, real original insult.”

“I’m a Grimm too, dad… yet you’re the one threatening to kill us.”

“I am protecting the people of New York—”

“By aiming the gun at your daughter—”

“Who is wanted for assault, trespassing, and suspicion of Grimm terrorism. Jesus, Ruby, do you have any idea what this is going to do to our family and our reputation?”

“Is that all you’ve cared about? Our reputation?”

As the relatives began arguing, Jaune shifted his eyes down and saw that there was sand underneath the bench that they were currently standing in.

“Jesus, what would mom think of you now? Her daughter… a fucking freak.”

“Tai,” Qrow said.

As Taiyang and the kids looked towards Qrow as he approached, Jaune whispered, "Get ready…"

Ruby looked out of the corner of her eye and saw Jaune had dug his right foot into the sand and knew what he was going to do.

"I called," Qrow said, “Raven’s getting Phillip and Derek. They should arrive here within twelve minutes."

"Dad…" Ruby said, gaining the attention of everyone, “If she would be disappointed in something I have no control over… Summer would be horrified in what you have become.”

Taiyang gritted his teeth as he said, “You don’t have the right to say her name anymore.”

“Now,” Ruby said.

Ruby lowered her arms and looked down as Jaune kicked his foot upward, sending sand at the two officers.

" _Lumen_!" Jaune yelled.

Seeing the bright flash appear and vanish, Ruby looked up and saw both her dad and uncle were holding their eyes in pain.

“RUBY!”

Before she could react, Jaune grabbed her arm and said, “Ruby, we have to go now!”

“Ruby,” Taiyang yelled again as he continued to groan in pain.

Ruby looked at them and said, “Goodbye…”

_After that, we ran. We ran out of the park and left dad and Qrow behind. I remember looking at Jaune and seeing the fear in his Grimm eyes as we sprinted as fast as we could out of the entrance of the park._

Stopping at the entrance for a quick breath, Jaune looked back where we came.

"We don't have long until that spell wears off, and the G.D.T.F will be here soon."

"What are we gonna do?" Ruby asked.

“With the snow picking up, we can cut through the alleyways and the snow will cover our tracks", Jaune said as he looked up and saw the snow picking up, “But just to be safe…”

Turning back to the entrance, Jaune crouched down and placed his hands on both of their footprints.

" _Abscondere pedes…_ "

Ruby watched as Jaune's spell went into effect and the snow that was crushed under their feet began to rise again, leaving an untouched pathway into the park.

Jaune stood back up and turned to look at Ruby.

“Teach me that when we’re out of this,” Ruby said.

“Sure. When we get out of here.”

As they stood there, both Jaune and Ruby could hear it.

"They're coming."

"Are you ready?"

Ruby looked to Jaune and nodded.

"Let's go."


	6. A Strange Turn of Events

_Queens, New York_

_December 2nd, 2040_

_9:45 PM_

Taiyang was staring at a very specific spot for what felt like ages. Everything around him was a blur, his ears were blocking out all the noise. It was like he was a statue.

‘The Rose fades into the white abyss… doomed to fall… doomed to rise…’

“W-What?”

“I said that Raven wants to talk with you,” Qrow said as he suddenlappeared next to Taiyang.

“Oh… okay.”

“Tai,” Qrow said as he held Taiyang’s arm, “We’ll find them.”

Taiyang gave a small nod as he proceeded towards Raven.

“Let’s go! They can’t have gotten far with this storm picking up. I want a radius of seven miles set up by yesterday,” Qrow began to command the other GDTF officers.

Taiyang walked past his task force members and could feel their gazes. Taiyang knew that this mission… would be his last as the head of Queens’ GDTF, if not his last as a cop in general.  
  
As Taiyang made it to the entrance that he arrived from, he pulled out his phone and called Raven.

‘Tai?’

“Any updates?”

‘So far, we have nothing from the local authorities. Officers Ray and Tina said that they thought they found something, but it was just some teenagers tagging a wall.’

“Shit… okay, have them continue their search. With the storm getting close, they will get tired and make a mistake.”

‘Before you go Tai… what happened there?’

“We didn’t have backup. That’s what happened,” Taiyang said as he hung up his phone.

As Taiyang walked back to the center of the park, he heard Qrow yelling into his radio.

“You want to put a BOLO-G out on a G.D.T.F lieutenant's daughter? I'd rather put a gun in my mouth than deal with that level of backlash from the media," Qrow said.

‘Well, Sergeant, then what should we do?’

“Just keep looking. Ruby was smart, but even she made mistakes."

‘Sir.’

Qrow turned off his radio and saw Taiyang approaching him and asked, “And?”

“Nothing…”

“Tai, we’re going to need more officers out here soon. Our guys are exhausted.”

“It’s just a few hours of overtime,” Taiyang said.

“Tai, I—” Qrow stopped when he heard his radio turn on.

‘Sergeant Rose.’

“Go ahead, Raven.”

‘Is Lieutenant Long with you?’

“Right here, Raven.”

‘Chief Schnee would like you to return to HQ to discuss the recent… developments… in the case.’

“On my way,” Taiyang sighed.

“I’m going to go grab my gear from the house.”

“I’ll give you a ride over,”Taiyang said.

“Thanks,” Qrow said.

_Washington, D.C_

_December 2nd, 2040_

_9:56 PM_

“Today was quite eventful, wouldn’t you say Miss Thyme?”

“More so than usual, Senator,” Fiona said as she finished packing her bag, “Is there anything else I can do for you before I head home?"

“Just make sure to get some sleep for tomorrow for another round of politics. Okay,” Robyn asked.

“Yes, Senator,” Fiona said as she walked out.

Senator Hill gave Fiona a compassionate smile as the assistant left the room, leaving the senator to her work.

Hearing a knock on her door, Robyn asked, “Did you forget something, Fiona?”

No response… except for a second knock.

“Fiona,” Robyn asked as she looked up.

No response…

Robyn cautiously reached for her desk drawer to pull out a handgun that she has been hiding in case of an emergency. Approaching the door, Robyn held the gun behind her back as she opened the door to see no one was standing there. But as she looked down, Robyn saw a small envelope marked:

To: _RH_

From: BB

Quickly picked up the envelope and closed the door, making sure to lock it. Opening the envelope, Robyn saw a recorder and a USB stick were inside. Picking up the recorder, Robyn pressed play and listened.

‘This might be my final words of freedom… these words. Know that my actions were made purely of my own volition. My actions are my own. Do not bring my family into this as a way of handing out your own perspective of justice. My fellow Senators did not coerce me, they did not bribe me or blackmail me… I joined our group because they believed in the Grimm as much as I do. I was the one who extracted the classified documents regarding Project Remnant and I have given multiple copies of the data that I have acquired to those that I trust in the hopes that they may get it to the right people before my fate becomes their’s. I pray that… they are coming. This is Senator Burns… _Ego intrare terram libertatem_ …’

As the recording finished, Robyn slowly looked at the USB stick and tears began to swell in her eyes.

“Thank you, Burnie…”

Walking up to her computer, Robyn plugged in the USB stick and downloaded the files.

_Queens, New York_

_December 2nd, 2040_

_10:02 AM_

As Taiyang walked into the precinct, he was met with looks and glares from his fellow officers as he walked in the direction of Police Chief Schnee's office.

"Head of the Grimm Task Force… not for long," He heard.

"Can't believe that Ruby is a Grimm.”

“You think he knew?”

“Maybe…”

Turning the corner towards the chief's office, Taiyang saw Summer standing next to the door.

‘She is losing her strength with every moment…’

Instead of acknowledging her, Taiyang just continued inside to see chief Schnee screaming at his phone.

"No, Mr. Soleil, I promise that this issue will be taken care of as soon as we locate her,” Jacques slammed his phone down on the handle, hanging up the phone, “Tell me… what the fuck happened?”

“We tracked Ruby via her phone to St. John’s cemetery. From there, we saw that she had bought a cab to head to a park, where Sergeant Rose and I encountered Ruby with her accomplice. Before backup could arrive, her accomplice used a blinding spell and the two managed to escape.”

Jacques listened to Taiyang's story leading up to the present. With every word Taiyang said, another hair on Jacques' mustache turned white. When Taiyang was done talking, Jacques stared at Taiyang for moments before he placed his hands on his head.

"My god… the damage this is going to do. Not only to us, Tai, but the department."

"My men are working on trying and finding them. They ran off on foot only an hour ago. They couldn't have gotten far in the storm."

"For your sake, I suggest you hurry and find them now. Mr. Soleil said that if she is not in cuffs by sunrise, he will go to the media. If you can't find her before sunrise, I have no choice but to release a BOLO-G, got it?"

"Yes, sir," Taiyang said as he began to leave.

"And Tai, you realize that once this is over, there will be consequences."

Taiyang nodded as he walked out of the office to see Summer again.

‘A single rose in a cold world will end in death… and life shall replace death.’

As Taiyang stared at his wife’s vision, he closed his eyes and walked past her… now was not the time for ghosts.

_Elmhurst, New York_

_December 3rd, 2040_

_12:02 AM_

_I remember how cold it was that day… the feeling of the snow latching to my many layers, adding both weight and a change in temperature to me as Jaune and I had kept trying to stay relatively warm as we continued through the alleyways and shortcuts of New York. But with every move we made, Jaune used the cloaking spell, which was taking a toll on him from an excessive use of magic. By the time we reached our most recent hiding area, I could tell that he was running on fumes._

Currently hiding in an alleyway, Ruby and Jaune were behind a dumpster next to an apartment building, hiding from the Light as a G.D.T.F patrol passed them. Once they saw the floodlight pass, Ruby let out a sigh and said, “We should rest here.”

"We can't stop."

As Ruby began to get up, she saw Jaune was using the wall as support.

"Jaune, you have Grimm Fatigue.”

“The hell is that?”

“My dad told me that Grimm fatigue is how he catches most of the Grimm he goes after. When the chase begins, the Grimm get so spooked that they overuse their magic and pass out. Like running for too long and passing out from overheating,” Ruby said, “Just for a few minutes, okay?”

"Fine…" Jaune said as he slumped back onto the ground. Looking up at the sky, Jaune felt the snow coming down on them, "I wish we could make a fire…"

Just the thought of more warmth sent shivers down Ruby's spine as she blew her breath into her hands for warmth, "Let's not think… about that… How about if… if we get out of New York. Where next?"

"The plan is to head for Haven."

"Haven? Why?"

“The Light… said that… they said that their closest contact is in... in Haven."

"How? After the March on Shade Street—"

“There are still… some there. The Light… say that she has been helping other Grimm reach Liberteria for the last few years and will be expecting us to arrive within the next d-day or so."

"If there is someone in Haven who can help us, then how will we be getting there?"

"The plan... was by train. But due to recent, shall we say, developments, I don't think that option is a-available anym-m-more. By now, our faces are probably all over the city. So… I hope you're ready for quite the walk ahead for us."

Ruby seemed to be thinking of something when she suddenly said, ”…No."

“W-What do you mean 'no'?"

"We're going to leave the city by taking the train."

"Look, I know we don't have a lot of options, but a suicide mission isn't the direction I'm thinking of going at the moment," Jaune said.

"The G.D.T.F and N.Y.P.D won't go public about us, not yet."

"Ruby, if you have some future seeing spell, please let me know. How do you know,” Jaune asked.

“Because I am the relative of two of Queens’ most famous G.D.T.F operatives."

Jaune's seemed to catch on to what Ruby was saying as he began to speak, "…And if it came out that you are a Grimm, then the blowback would be a nightmare. The media would attack the chief like a mob. But… what about your family?”

Ruby's smile vanished as she looked back out of the alleyway, quickly scanning for a patrol before sitting back behind the side of the dumpster.

"If we get caught or escape, they will go after my family. Either way, they will be attacked, and I'd rather not be around when that happens," Ruby said.

"Even if they haven't gone public yet, what you are suggesting is way too risky."

"We're sitting in an alleyway, hiding from the cops while sitting in -2º weather. If we stay here, we will either get caught or freeze to death. If we try for the train station, there's the possibility that we can make it."

Jaune sighed as he pulled his sleeve up, revealing his watch, "12:17 AM… What's the closest train station?"

"The closest station that can take us to Haven would be… Grand Central."

"Of course it is… Okay," Jaune said as he planned it out in his head, "If we can get through Woodside without getting caught, we can try and take the ferry across to Manhattan. Once across, we should be in the clear, and then we can get to the station and take the first transport by sunrise. Okay… Yeah, I'm in. I think that I am good to go."

"Wait."

Jaune looked in Ruby's direction and saw the red and blue lights slowly coming into view from the other side of the alleyway.

"Come on, stay quiet, and don't stop," Jaune said as the two snuck away.

_1:12 AM_

Qrow stared at himself in the mirror as he finished putting on his uniform for his patrol when he heard Raven on his radio.

'Sergeant Rose, what is your status? Over.'

Qrow grabbed the radio and answered, "Went home and to put on my uniform. Since I'm in Woodside, I figured I'd patrol this area in case they pass through the patrols. Over."

'10-4. I’ll have some additional officers from the night shift sent to your sector when they return from their search.'

"Yeah, yeah…" Qrow said as he set his radio down on his bed.

Looking over to his shelf, Qrow saw a photo of his sister. She was sitting in a hospital bed, holding a recently born Ruby in her arms and a smile on her face. On both sides of her were Qrow and Taiyang with similar smiles.

"I wish that we could have stayed in that moment, sis. Back when everything made sense... Look, something has happened, and Ruby… Ruby is not like what you remember. She’s… I know that I have a job to follow through, but... but I promised you that I'd... God, I wish that you were here to help me figure this out."

Qrow began to feel the tears stroke his cheeks as he held the photo of his sister. Composing himself, Qrow wiped his tears away and placed the frame back down. With that, Qrow grabbed his radio and walked out of his house to find his niece.

But as he sat in his car and turned it on, his phone activated the Bluetooth and replayed the video that Qrow last listened to.

‘Hey future us, it’s er… past us. We just finished unpacking all of our bags and now… this is where Summer and I will be staying until we achieve our dream of living in a big empty mansion.’

‘It isn’t much, but it’s not like we had much to begin with,’ Summer said, ‘Besides, I think we can make this place work. We put some nice posters up here and a disco ball here.’

‘Oh, we’re getting a disco ball?’

‘Hell yeah, for party night.’

‘For now, we just need each other to survive. It’s been enough to get us this far.’

‘As long as we have each other, nothing can stop the Rose siblings.’

As the video came to a close, Qrow closed his eyes and shifted his car into drive before driving off into the storm.

1:30 AM

_As the night drew on, more patrols entered the streets. As far as I could tell, dad called every G.D.T.F officer to search for us. I would say I was flattered how hard he was looking for me. But given the circumstances, I was terrified every single second we were out there. We just kept going through alleyways and kept covering our tracks, taking turns after Jaune taught me how to cast the spell, which very soon took its toll on me as well._

As the night drew on, both Jaune and Ruby were drained from their excessive use of magic. Exhausted, Ruby and Jaune were currently hiding in another alleyway. This alleyway was between a bakery and a pizzeria, keeping themselves warm from the oven steam that was shooting out the side of the building.

"How f-f-far… How far ha-a-ave we gotten?" Ruby asked, her voice mumbling from the cold.

"We're on G-Greenpoint… I think… we're half w-way to the ferry."

Ruby shivered again as a chilling wind swept through the alleyway. Ruby placed her hand in front of the pipe for direct warmth... but it wasn't enough.

"We still have a few hours until sunrise," Jaune said as he looked at Ruby, "you're freezing."

"I-I'm fine."

“Here,” Jaune said as he took off one of his jackets and handed it to Ruby, who decided to accept his offer, ”I think… we can manage the rest of the way without magic. We are pretty… pretty far from where we started."

"My uncle… My uncle lives in this area. It's possible they came here to… tolook for us…"

"Shit. O-Okay… let's go then…"

"Jaune—"

"The longer w-we stay here, the b-b-bigger the possibly of being caught. We can rest on the ferry. It's going to start departures soon," Jaune said, extending his hand to Ruby.

Ruby grabbed his hand and was pulled up from her spot. Putting her bag back on, the two proceeded out of the alleyway. As they slowly crossed the street, they saw a car turn the corner, and Ruby recognized the vehicle instantly.

"Uncle Qrow… Jaune, run!"

The two began to sprint as fast as they could when Jaune tripped, falling to the ground.

"Jaune! Get up," Ruby said as she picked Jaune up and carried him by the arm.

“I… I can’t… just go,” Jaune said weakly.

“No,” Ruby said as she continued to try and help him up. But as she did this, the car pulled in front of her and she heard the car door open and shut.

"I'm sorry…" Jaune said.

"Shut up. We can make it…”

Ruby, determined to get Jaune to safety, turned around to run back into the alley when a voice called out to her.

"Freeze!"

Ruby stayed dead in her tracks. She knew, deep down, that it was the end for them. She had no energy to try anything funny, so with tears in her eyes, Ruby slowly turned to Qrow, who had his gun aimed at them when he got a good look of them and said, "My god… Ruby… you look horrible."

'Sergeant Rose, do you have any update on Ruby and her assailant?' Raven asked through Qrow's radio.

Qrow grabbed his radio and leaned into it.

“U-Uncle Qrow…”

Qrow looked at his niece as she said one word.

"Please…"

Qrow looked into Ruby's eyes and saw not hatred or anger that most Grimm he has encountered had. Instead, he saw the same fear as that boy he arrested just hours earlier.

"Please…" Ruby said again.

'I repeat, Sergeant Rose, is there any updates on your patrol?'

"…Negative, I don't have anything here, I think that we should reroute to Elmhurst..”

'10-4. We will reroute a few cruisers to do a final sweep before heading over to Elmhurst.'

Turning off his radio, Qrow looked at the two kids, "Get in quickly before you freeze to death."

Ruby, seeing no other option, walked towards the cruiser and helped Jaune into the backseat of her uncle's car before getting into the passenger seat. Starting the car, the three just sat there as the heat started up, causing Ruby and Jaune to sigh in relief.

"Where were you going?"

“…Grand Central."

"Okay," Qrow said as he began to drive."

"I-Is there a BOLO out yet," Ruby asked as she felt the feeling in her fingers return.

“No… at least not yet. Raven mentioned something about Senator Hill and the chief agreeing to hold off the BOLO until the morning."

  
Ruby looked back at Jaune, who responded by weakly giving a small nod.

"What's up with him," Qrow asked as he looked in the mirror.

“He’s dealing with Grimm Fatigue."

“Well… just rest kid, you two will be up and at it again in about an hour or so."

"Rest in a car with a G.D.T.F officer… that's a… good one…"

Ruby turned to argue with Jaune but saw that he had already passed out from exhaustion. Looking back at the boy, Qrow asked, "You trust him?"

Ruby stared at Jaune with a weak smile on her face, "Yeah… I do for some weird reason…"

Qrow slowly rubbed his eyes, "I swear if I had a nickel for every time one of these little shits blinded me, I… oh sorry… I just… I’m still trying to wrap my head around some of this."

"…Uncle Qrow?"

"Yeah?"

"Why are you helping us? We're Grimm. You could go to jail or lose your job for helping us."

“When your mother died, I made a promise to her that I would look after you. If I had to be skinned alive and told to jump into the ocean with lemon slices wrapped around my body to save you, I would swan dive into that water.”

"I wish dad saw it that way…"

"Tai is dealing with this week how he always has, and that is the hard part. He always tries to take this week on by himself every year, and I think that this just made him snap."

"So it's my fault…"

"No, kid, it is not your fault."

"Uncle Qrow, I am a Grimm. And now that you and dad and everyone else knows, my life is practically over now. And not only that, I dragged all of you down with me. I-I'm sorry," Ruby said through sniffles from both the cold and tears.

"When I joined, I joined the task force to protect my sister. I failed to do that. But she had you, so I made a promise. And I will do everything in my power to make sure that I follow through with that promise until the day I die."

Ruby gave a weak before she felt her eyes beginning to grow heavy as her body started to give in to her exhaustion. Qrow saw that too and chuckled, "Why don't you get some rest? We have some time before we get there."

"Okay…and Uncle Qrow?"

"Yeah, kid," Qrow asked.

"…Thank you."

Qrow looked at Ruby and saw that she had fallen asleep.

"Sure thing, kid. Sure thing…"

As Ruby fell asleep, Qrow just thought, 'I made you a promise, Summer… I made you a promise.'


	7. The Station

_Washington, D.C_

_December 3rd, 2040_

_2:42 AM_

Pulling up to her D.C home, Senator Hill stepped out of her car into the snowing sky and was immediately bombarded by reporters.

“Senator Hill, what are your thoughts on Senator Burns?”

“Senator, is it true that Senator Cordovan plans to have you testify before the Senate in two days?”

“Senator…”

Every voice became a blur as Robyn opened her door and walked inside of her home. Setting her winter coat on the rack and proceeded to her desk. Sitting down and pulling out her laptop, she connected to a secure server and plugged the USB stick into her computer. Immediately, her screen showed dozens of documents with the labels “CLASSIFIED” and “PROJECT REMNANT” as well as “WHITE FANG TASK FORCE PROGRAM”.

Before she began her investigation into the files, Robyn heard the lights come on, causing her to instinctively shut her computer and turn around to see her daughter, Luna Hill, standing at the bottom of the staircase, with a bat in her hands.

“Mom,” Luna asked as she lowered the bat.

“Luna, my god, I’m sorry… did I wake you up?”

“Not really…” Luna said, “I uh… put your dinner in the microwave to keep it from getting cold.”

Looking towards the kitchen area, Robyn looked back and sighed, “Luna—”

“Don’t worry, I understand… work and all,” Luna said as she proceeded back up stairs.

“Luna.”

But Luna did not respond, instead Robyn just heard the sound of Luna’s door shut. Sighing, Robyn proceeded to the kitchen and opened the microwave to see her meal: Roasted Chicken with a side of asparagus.

After warming it in the microwave, Robyn took the plate out and walked back to her computer. Sitting down with her food, Robyn was about to see what these files contained, but something stopped her.

Standing up, Robyn proceeded upstairs to speak with Luna. Walking up to her daughter’s door, she knocked and heard Luna say, “Come in.”

Opening the door, Robyn saw Luna sitting on her bed, listening to music while reading a book before looking at Robyn.

“Yeah?”

“Look… Something came up at work and I had to take care of it, okay?”

“I said that it’s fine…” Luna said.

“How about I make it up to you. I think I have a decent chunk of time free around noon tomorrow. I was thinking that we can grab some lunch at The Hill Cafe and have a nice chat,” Robyn asked.

“About what?”

“I don’t know, your day, my day, just a conversation,” Robyn said.

“I have my online seminar event at noon.”

“Oh,” Robyn said, saddened by hearing this news, “Well then… maybe another time.”

“But,” Luna said, “The professor said that he isn’t feeling well, so in the off chance that the event is cancelled, I can go.”

Robyn’s eyes lit up a bit as she said, “You got yourself a deal.”

“Good night, mom.”

“Good night, and go to bed. It’s late,” Robyn said.

As Robyn shut the door, she let out a small sigh of relief before proceeded down the stairs. Sitting down at her table, Robyn looked at the time…

_3:10 AM_

“Maybe I should get some sleep too…”

  
Before she did though, Robyn sent an email to Senator Skout.

‘Senator Skout, I invite you to meet with me tomorrow evening to discuss the meeting with the Senate yesterday. — Senator Hill.’

Sending the email, Robyn rubbed her eyes and proceeded to her room with her food.

_4:15 AM_

The night was almost over, and the G.D.T.F has still not managed to find Ruby or Jaune. The constant wild goose chase was starting to get to some of the officers as some have been working almost two shifts in a row. Tired, cold, and agitated… the officers were beginning to call of the search.

Currently, Taiyang was sitting in Chief Schnee’s office.

“Lieutenant… tell me that you still have a lead.”

“No… We had a few cameras spot them, but once the storm got bad, we lost them. Plus, it seems as though they’re going through alleys and avoiding the streets.”

Jacques slowly nodded his head as he looked out of the window as a glimmer of light began to show through the concrete jungle, “You had until sunrise, Lieutenant…”

“I understand, sir, but—”

“I don’t think that you do understand, Lieutenant. So allow me to explain it to you in a way that you CAN understand. The moment that sun comes fully over the horizon, every fucking news station will have your daughter’s face plastered on their morning shows. I will have every fucking law enforcement office from here to Maine looking for her. I will have them drag her back here, whether she come in cuffs or in a body bag, Lieutenant, I have lost every last shred of patience for it. The news will paint her, you, Raven, and Qrow as god damned accomplices. I will be forced to relieve the three of you from the G.D.T.F, if not the goddamn N.Y.P.D itself!”

With every sentence, Taiyang slowly tightened his fists to keep himself from doing anything stupid.

“Do I make myself clear, Lieutenant,” Chief Schnee asked.

“Yes, chief.”

“Then GO,” Schnee yelled.

Taiyang quickly stood up and walked out of the office and back to his desk. Opening the door into the G.D.T.F department, Taiyang saw Raven speaking beside the other communications officers. She was exhaustively working, finding the missing piece to the location of Ruby. Taiyang walked up and tapped Raven’s shoulder.

“Anything?"

“No…”

“She couldn’t have gotten far in that storm… What about Qrow?”

"Last we heard from Qrow, he was checking out Sunnyside, and that was a few hours ago."

"Who did we send to check out Sunnyside?"

"That would be Officers Fox and Bolin."

"Call them in. Ask if they have run into Qrow."

“What are you thinking?”

“Just do it,” Taiyang said.

“…Officers Bolin and Fox, please respond."

‘We read you, comms. How can we assist?'

"Did you come into contact with Sergeant Rose during your search in Sunnyside?"

'Negative ma'am, it was just us. Unfortunately, we found zero leads over here.'

Upon hearing this news, the two officers became concerned.

"Raven, bring up the recordings closest to the park. Follow any recordings that have Qrow in them."

"Tai, what are you suggesting?"

"It's just a hunch. Hurry, we don't have much time!"

Raven proceeded to go back to the recordings near the park.

"Okay, there he is. Follow him, let me know what you find,” Taiyang said to himself as he saw him and Qrow getting into Tai’s car.

5:12 AM

Taiyang was sitting at his desk, calling Qrow for what felt like the hundredth time. He would call, it would ring once, and go to voicemail.

“God damn it, Qrow…” Taiyang mumbled to himself.

As he began to try again, he heard Raven yell, "Tai!"

Taiyang hung up the phone and ran over to Raven, “Did you find something?"

"I have good… and bad news."

“Give me the good news first,” Taiyang sighed.

“I know where Ruby is.”

“Where?”

“That’s where the bad news comes in…"

_5:15 AM_

"Sergeant Rose did WHAT," Jacques yelled as he stood up from his desk.

"We have a good idea as to where he is taking them. We need to call Manhattan's G.D.T.F and let them know that they have to hurry to Grand Central."

"Dear God, I expected you to say that she just got away… but THIS?! THIS IS A PR NIGHTMARE!"

"Sir—"

"Go. Go and get that damn girl NOW!"

As Taiyang ran out of his office, Jacques poured a full glass of whiskey, and picked up his phone to make the call.

5:11 AM

Ruby was shaken awake to the sounds of New York City: the honking of cars stuck in traffic and the sound of pedestrians talking and walking past her. Looking to see who it was that woke her up, she was both glad and sad to discover that it was Jaune who had woken her up. This meant that everything that happened last night was real and she was safe… and that everything that happened was real.

Ruby quickly noticed that Jaune had changed his clothes. Now, Jaune was wearing dark blue jeans, a white t-shirt, and a black zip-up hoodie.

"Ruby, it's time to get up."

"Where are we?"

“Qrow got us to Grand Central."

Ruby slowly stepped out of the car and saw the massive structure that she stood in front of and could not help but be fascinated by the old building.

"Wow…"

"Escape now, fascinate later," Jaune said as he handed Ruby her bag.

Ruby rolled her eyes and yawned as she put her bag on her back and tightened up the straps. Looking up the steps in front of them, Ruby saw Qrow walking down to them, holding a small envelope.

"Ah good, you're awake. You two have the first ride out of here and that ride departs in twenty minutes. Since it has been all night with no leads as to where you two are, the G.D.T.F will be forced to release a BOLO for you two any minute now. Just to be safe, I will not inform you that there is still the conductor android that can cut the emergency brakes to the LightTrain if instructed to do so."

"And in return, we will not inform you that we may have to disable that android to ensure we get out of the city," Jaune said.

Qrow nodded as he pulled out his wallet and took out every bit of cash he had before handing it towards Ruby, along with the envelope containing the tickets. It had to be around two hundred dollars.

"Uncle Qrow, I can’t—"

"You can and you will. You will need it to get to Burlington."

But still, Ruby refused to take the money. Jaune stepped up and grabbed the donation, thanking Qrow for it.

"Well, kid, it looks like this is it... for a while at least.I expected this farewell to happen when you were eighteen, but I ah… I'll miss you," Qrow said as he rubbed his eye.

Ruby, with tears in her eyes, hugged her uncle tightly.

"Send all of us a postcard when you get there, okay," Qrow chuckled.

"Yes…Yes, of course, I will,” Ruby chuckled as she wiped her eyes.

"And Jaune, you take care of her, you hear me? Or I swear, I will demonstrate every legal and illegal tactic that I learned to become a G.D.T.F officer."

"Y-Yes sir," Jaune said, extremely intimidated by the older man.

"I can take care of myself, you know," Ruby said.

Qrow smiled, "I know you can, kiddo, I know. Now get out of here."

Qrow watched as both Jaune and Ruby ran up the steps into Grand Central before his smile vanished, knowing fully well about what was going to happen now.

"Goodbye, Ruby…" Qrow said as he got back into his car and turned on his police scanner.

‘Attention all G.D.T.F officers, Sergeant Rose’s vehicle has been located at Grand Central Station. We also have visual confirmation that Ruby Rose and her accomplice have entered the terminal. Send all active operatives there ASAP. The primary objective is to incapacitate the Grimm! If you come into contact with Sergeant Rose, detain him.'

'Affirmative.'

Qrow sighed as he pulled his holstered gun off of his person, removed his badge, and set them on the seat beside him. After that, he pulled his phone out and played it one last time…

‘Hey future us, it’s er… past us.’

_5:20 AM_

As both Jaune and Ruby took their first steps into the train station, Ruby could not help but feel a sense of awe at the old interior architecture mixed with some modern digital improvements.

"We made it,” Ruby said.

"Let's not celebrate just yet. We still have to make it onto the train," Jaune said.

Ruby and Jaune walked down to the main lobby of the station and sat down at a nearby bench.

"Okay. We have about twenty minutes to find that android. Any ideas?" Jaune asked.

"It's a LightTrain, so the conductor android will most likely be working from a control station on the same platform as the train itself. They are like RC cars," Ruby said, “If they announce emergency procedures, the androids will automatically shut off the trains, and we will be trapped."

“Okay, before we go, do you want to change into something fresh? There’s a bathroom right over there,” Jaune pointed at the bathroom on the other end of the station.

"I don't think we have time for... that…" Ruby said as she glanced up at the monitor and saw the news, "Fuck."

"What," Jaune asked as he looked in the same direction.

‘Breaking News as we have just received a report that Lieutenant Taiyang Xiao Long, the head of the Grimm Detainment Task Force in Queens, was assaulted by two Grimm last night. And you are not going to believe this, folks. One of the Grimm… is his own daughter, Ruby Rose,’ The screen changed to show an image of Ruby, which prompted Ruby to put her hoodie on slowly, ‘Her and her accomplice, who’s name is unknown but managed to get this sketch,” The screen showed Jaune’s face, “are still at large and were last seen just outside of Grand Central Terminal. Be on the lookout. These Grimm are to be considered extremely dangerous. If you see them, please report them to the nearest police officials.'

"Oh, fuck…" Jaune said as he put his hoodie up, “Come on, just act normal and keep your head down."

Both Jaune and Ruby stood up, grabbed their bags, and proceeded towards the Haven line. As they proceeded, Ruby could hear multiple voices reacting to the news.

“How could she attack her own father?”

“You think that they are here?”

“Fucking freak.”

“We should get out of here.”

“If they’re here, shouldn’t the workers shut down the trains?”

“Jaune,” Ruby mumbled.

“We’re almost there,” Jaune said as the two began descending down the stairs.

Once they reached a corridor leading towards the Haven line, Jaune nodded his head and said, “Left side.”

'ANDROIDS AND OFFICIAL PERSONNEL ONLY.'

"Well, it looks like we found our door…” Jaune said.

As Ruby took a step towards the door, Jaune slowly turned his head and quickly said, “Ruby stop.”

“What?”

“We have a camera aiming right at our back— don’t turn around,” Jaune quickly said as he saw Ruby beginning to turn her head.

“What do we do,” Ruby asked.

Jaune lowered his hand and aimed his palm at the camera and whispered, “ _Electricae_.”

The two heard a spark before Jaune raised his hand and showed the small amount of electricity that was taken from the camera. Now that they were currently in the clear, Jaune walked up and placed his hand on the electronic lock and released the energy, causing it to overload and unlock the door.

“Give me a minute,” Jaune said as he opened the door and snuck in.

Meanwhile, Ruby stood in front of the door and tried to act casual as the intercom came on.

‘Attention. Attention. This is an emergency announcement. Two wanted Grimm have been located in Grand Central. Please report to the main lobby while officials search for the fugitives.’

“Shit…” Ruby mumbled.

“We’re all set,” Jaune opened the door, “I left a present for our guests in case they try the _formerly_ operational control panel.”

“Did you hear the intercom?”

  
“Yeah. Luckily, we still have some time before—”

"G.D.T.F FREEZE!"

Ruby and Jaune looked in the direction of the entrance to the Haven line and saw five GDTF officers aiming their weapons at the two Grimm. One of them was Taiyang.

_The air was stagnant as we stood there in the haunting silence. As I glanced towards Jaune, I could see the beads of sweat that were dripping down his head as he slowly tightened the straps on his bag._

"Ruby Rose and Jaune Arc, you two are under arrest for committing numerous acts of violence, resisting arrest, and for performing acts of Grimm terrorism. You are to be detained and sent to the nearest—"

'The Haven line shall depart in two minutes.'

_A single second can be all that you need to perform the near impossible._

In that split second interruption, Jaune grabbed Ruby's arm and held her close, “Jump.”

Without thinking, she jumped and heard Jaune shout, " _AER_!"

Ruby watched as her view of her father suddenly became much smaller and farther away as Jaune had sent both of them back towards the end of the corridor and sending the G.D.T.F officers back a good couple of feet.

“Ow,” Jaune groaned as he slowly placed his hand on his back, but quickly changed his focus to running. Looking towards the officers, he grabbed Ruby’s arm to lift her up and yelled, “RUN!”

"Take them down!”

"No! I want them alive!" Taiyang yelled.

"Don't stop, Ruby," Jaune yelled

Ruby and Jaune ran down another set of stairs to see an identification checkpoint with a group of angry citizens in between them. Jaune and Ruby pushed through and jumped over the checkpoint, signaling an alarm.

'ATTENTION, YOU ARE CURRENTLY TRESPASSING'

"There it is," Ruby looked up ahead and saw the train was still stationed at the moment.

"We're almost there," She said.

"Hold it right there!"

Looking back, Ruby saw a security android was chasing after them, along with the G.D.T.F officers that were slowly making it through the crowded checkpoint.

"Electricae!"

Ruby's spell worked as the electricity was practically ripped out from the android and wrapped around her had. Taking the opportunity, Ruby quickly aimed her hand towards the officers and released the spell, hitting one of the officers and knocking him into a pillar.

"Screw this, take them down!"

"NO!"

The officers began to open fire on the two Grimm as they got closer and closer to the train. Just as they were about to jump in, one bullet grazed Jaune’s arm, making him yelp as he jumped inside of the train. Ruby reached the door when a hand grabbed her jacket, which prompted her to instinctively unzip the jacket, letting the officer fall to the floor as she made it in as the doors instantly shut. But as they stood up, she heard an audible thud behind them against the glass.

"NO!"

Ruby turned around to see Taiyang as his fists were planted against the train door. He was tired, his bloodshot eyes staring directly at her’s.

"Ruby, get away from the door," Jaune said.

But Ruby did not hear Jaune as she slowly moved towards the door, watching as her father tried to find some way to open the train doors. Out of options, all he did was pull out his gun and slammed it into the window with a sharp corner, a tactic that proved to have no effect. Ruby stared at her father with tears in her eyes as she showed him what she was.

"Ruby…" Taiyang said as Ruby could see tears in his eyes.

"I didn't want this, dad…" Ruby said, "But this is what I am…"

Ruby placed her hand on the door and watched as her father kept trying to open the door.

'Train departing now.'

_Dad… I know that you cannot hear the words that I am saying, as much as I wish that you could. I hope that you could have seen how hard I tried. I wish you could remember all the times that we had together… I wish that none of this happened. But deep down, I knew this was going to end in one of two ways. Please, dad. If it is going to help you feel better, remember me for who I was pretending to be. And not what I truly am._

"Goodbye," Ruby said.

Ruby could feel the mechanisms of the train begin to vibrate, signaling that the train was starting to move. Removing her hand from the door, Ruby stepped back and proceeded to walk away from her father, despite his muffled calls to her. Seconds later, and his voice was gone.

_5:40 AM_

Taiyang turned to the other officers and yelled, “The emergency brake. NOW!”

Taiyang ran back up the stairs to the control room to see an officer was walking out of the control room with a clipboard.

"Officer, did you find the emergency brake?"

"The console was destroyed… and this was left on top of the console," The officer handed Taiyang the clipboard.

'NICE TRY! XP'

Looking at the officer, he handed the board back to her and walked back up the stairs, seeing Summer at the top.

"The Rose leaves the city… free and unburdened. "

Taiyang stared at Summer's ghost before continuing up the stairs and past her, "No. She is not.”

Qrow stood outside the front entrance of the station in handcuffs, a black eye, a cut lip, and a smile on his face. Behind him were three G.D.T.F officers, one of which had a broken nose and another was holding his arm and wincing. Watching as the officers left the building empty handed, Qrow started with a small chuckle that escalated into full-on laughter as he knew what this meant as he saw Taiyang walking towards Qrow with an emotion Qrow could only describe as… displeased.

“You swore an oath," Taiyang said.

“*sigh* Yeah, I did. I swore to protect the innocent, and I did.”

“You broke the law…”

“And I would again if I had a second try.”

“Shut it,” The officer behind Qrow said.

“Who said that? Lenny? Come here, I’ll break the other arm too.”

“ENOUGH,” Taiyang yelled, “You know what I have to do.”

“Yeah…”

“…I’m glad that Summer isn’t alive to see you like this. To see what you have become,” Taiyang said.

“I could say the same about you,” Qrow said.

Gritting his teeth, Taiyang looked to the other officers, "Take him back to Queens, I’ll deal with him later.”

The officers picked Qrow up and proceeded to the car as Qrow continued laughing. Once he was placed into the car, Qrow said, “Good luck, kids… You’ll need it.”

_5:41 AM_

Ruby was sitting in a train seat, staring out of the window at the grey, but bright sky as snow continued to fly down. Hearing a wince, Ruby looked down the aisle and saw Jaune was using a napkin against his arm, which was bleeding from the graze wound.

“Here,” Ruby said as she stood up and walked over to him and gently patted the bloodier areas of his arm, “It looks like it missed all the good stuff.”  
  
“Darn,” Jaune chuckled.

Ruby smiled as she continued to pat the wound and said, “Just keep cleaning it with water and you should be fine.”

“Thanks, Doc,” Jaune said as he sighed, “We made it.”

Ruby leaned back in the chair beside Jaune and nodded, “We made it.”


	8. A Battle in the Snow

_Queens, New York_

_December 3rd, 2040_

_6:15 AM_

Jacques sat in his chair, anger almost emanating from him as he stared at the two officers that stood in front of him.

“The two of you had… an entire night to find two Grimm. And somehow… two fucking children managed to get past not only two of my best task force members, but two fucking task forces!”

“Sir, had it not been for Sergeant Rose’s—” Raven began.

“SHUT… up,” Jacques said the last word calmly before asking, “Where have they gone…”

“Sergeant Rose bought them tickets for Haven. They should arrive within the hour or so,” Taiyang said.

“Branwen, go contact the G.D.T.F in Haven and inform them that the Grimm should arrive within the hour.”

“At once, sir,” Raven said as she walked out of the office.

Once Raven was out of the office, Jacques leaned back in his chair and sighed, “I’m already getting the shit storm of the century, Tai. Reporters, the governor, all of them are demanding that you be fired.”

“Let me go after her to bring her in.”

“Excuse me?”

“I said let me go after her.”

“Why would I do that? You’re too attached to the case.”

“Because you’re already planning on firing me… aren’t you?”

“…”

“Let me go after her. If I can bring her back, then maybe we can lower the storm.”

“…I can’t authorize you to take the team—”

“It would just be me. All the other officers, including Branwen, will remain here in New York while I continue the pursuit.”

“…Inform officer Branwen that she will be acting as temporary lieutenant in your absence. I am giving you until the end of this week to bring Ruby Rose and any other Grimm to justice. That gives you three days. When you return, with or without Ruby, I will be expecting a resignation letter on my desk.”

Taiyang stood up and walked out of the office. Walking into his department, he saw Raven run up and ask, “Well?”

“I have been allowed three days to go after them,” Taiyang said as he walked into his office and grabbed various items from his desk.

“Should I come with. You will need—”

“What I need you to do is to stay here and take charge of the task force. Chief Schnee has decided to put you in charge while I am away,” Taiyang said.

Raven stopped walking upon hearing the news and said, “Tai—”

“Look after the place while I’m gone, okay,” Taiyang asked.

“…Okay. And when you get back, I have something that I need to tell you.”

Tai nodded as he gave Raven a peck on the cheek, “Okay. I have to go.”

Before Taiyang made it out of the door, he heard Raven yell, “Sir!”

Looking back at her, Raven saluted to her lieutenant, “Good luck in Haven, Lieutenant.”

“And good luck here, Sergeant,” Taiyang nodded as he walked out of the precinct.

Getting into his car, Taiyang saw Summer sitting in the passenger seat and looking back at the precinct.

“ _The Red Rose flies towards the Northern Star, only to perish… and a Bright Dragon shall rise from its ashes._ ”

Activating his car, Taiyang had one thing on his mind.

“I’m coming, Ruby…”

_Harlem Line, New York_

_December 3rd, 2040_

_6:30 AM_

Ruby suddenly shot up, panting and sweating, after having the strangest dream. Taking in her surroundings,

“Ugh hey…”

“What’s wrong,” Ruby asked.

Ruby looked across the aisle at Jaune, who was rubbing the nape of his neck and groaned, “These stupid chairs will never be comfortable, no matter how hard they try…”

“I would rather be in an uncomfortable chair than back out in that snow storm last night,” Ruby chuckled as she tried to stand up, only to feel a soreness in her tail bone, “Okay… maybe I change my opinion.

Jaune chuckled as he looked out of his window, “It looks like things have calmed down though.”

As the two sat in a small moment of silence, Ruby said, “Hey Jaune?”

“Yeah?”

“I have a question that I have been wanting to ask you.”

“What is it?”

“Why did you decide to leave now?”

This question seemed to surprise Jaune as he asked, “What do you mean?”

“Well, the G.G.B has been announced for over three months, and when it was first announced, there were so many reports of Grimm being detained, I couldn’t turn on the TV for a week. So why didn’t you leave?”

“…It was my little sister’s birthday a few days ago. I was planning on leaving before, but I wanted to see my little sister grow up just a bit more, to see her smile just one last time. So I spent a couple of days trying to figure out the next opportunity to leave, and the timing had to be next to perfect, then there was the storm advisory and I knew that was my way out. That night after the party, I chose what I was gonna take with me for the journey and when the time came, I left a note to my family and left through my window.”

Ruby watched as Jaune wiped his eyes as he had begun to shed a few tears.

“So, why did you come to school then?”

Jaune reached into his bag and pulled out a picture and handed it to Ruby.

“Is this…”

“It’s a family photo my mom gave it to me on my first day of elementary school. She told me that it was to remind me that no matter when or where, my family will always love me. I figured that I might as well take it with me.

Jaune wiped his eyes, looked to Ruby, and asked, “What about you? Why didn't you leave?”

“…I guess I just didn’t want to.”

Jaune looked at me with confusion as I continued, “I guess I was just thinking that something was going to happen and the bill wouldn't have passed. The more that I thought about leaving, the more I kept trying to convince myself that it would get better… but I was only lying to myself.”

“If we didn't meet yesterday… would you have left?”

Ruby released a quick breath before admitting to Jaune and herself, “…No. I probably would have stayed and hoped that something would have happened. But… now I’m here, and likely wanted in the entire state of New York.”

‘The route to Haven is now seventy-five percent complete.’

Jaune, upon hearing the intercom, stood up and said, “Well, it sounds like it’s time to improvise.”

“What?”

“Even if we made it out of New York, we didn't exactly leave discreetly. After that mess at Grand Central, I wouldn't be surprised if the G.D.T.F in Haven are already waiting for us.”

“So what are you planning on doing? The only thing that can cut the brakes are the conductor androids, and we didn't really leave the last droid and console in working condition.”

“And Haven is most likely waiting for us to arrive so that they can catch us. So if the train can’t stop until it reaches the destination… then the only way for us to get off would be… No, that’s crazy,” Jaune paced around the train, going up to multiple areas of the locomotive and mumbling to himself, “But what if… Okay… Okay, okay, okay, I know what we can do.”

“Should I be concerned about what you have planned?”

“Uh, don’t worry about it. Um… you may want to put your bag on and strap it on as tight as you can.”

The two grabbed their respective bags and tightened them to their backs before Jaune walked up to the nearby train door. Placing his hand on the door, Jaune wrapped his other arm and leg around the pole closest to him.

“You may wanna hold onto something.”

“Jaune? What are you—”

“Do you trust me?”

“I don’t know.”  
  
“Good because you would be crazy to trust what I am about to do, now hold on to the pole like your life depended on it.”

Ruby did so and held onto the pole next to her for dear life. Jaune wrapped his arm around the pole next to him, opposite of Ruby, and placed his palm on the door.

  
“ _Electricae._ ”

Ruby heard the door make a strange noise before it suddenly opened up, a brief powerful suction rushing out as the cold air swept in.

When the two were stable, Ruby yelled, “Are you crazy?!”

“Only a little! Come on!”

Ruby carefully walked up to Jaune by grabbed one pole, pulling herself forward and rinse and repeat until she was beside Jaune, “What is the plan?”

“If we stay on the train, then we will be caught the second we get off in Haven! And forcing the train to stop will just cause the G.D.T.F to rush to the train’s destination sooner. So if we can’t stop the train, we are gonna have to jump!”

“Jesus Christ, Jaune, you are crazy!”

“Like I said, only a little… Okay, on three, we’ll jump, got it?”

“Oh god…”

“One!”

_As I stared out into the rushing scenery of brown, white, and green, I felt like my heart was going to burst. The most intense thing that I did before all of this was go to a go-kart location with the family for my birthday, but that doesn't even come close to the adrenaline I was feeling._

“Two!”

_As I began to amp myself up, whispering words of confidence to myself, I felt a physical pressure on my hand and saw that Jaune had taken a hold of it and held it tightly in his. I could see that he was as nervous about this as I was, so I responded by slowly wrapping my fingers around his and interlocking._

“Three!”

The two jumped out of the train. Upon impact, Ruby felt a rough and hard gravely ground as the two tumbled down the side of the train tracks. Soon, however, the feeling of the rough rocks were replaced with a soft and wet feeling as the two had rolled into the snowy grass.

Once the two came to had finally stopped rolling, Jaune was the first to move as he rolled onto his back. Watching as the train continued on without them, Jaune smiled as he stared up into the grey snowing skies, letting out a single, audible, noise.

“Ow.”

Jaune suddenly heard faint laughter that was slowly getting louder and turned his head to see Ruby was laughing hysterically while holding her side, tears shedding and a smile on her face as she just kept laughing.

“What?” Jaune asked, a smile forming on his face as well.

“…Ow…” Ruby said.

Now both of the teenagers were laughing as they stayed there for a few moments.

_6:35 AM_

Finally calming down from their hysteria, Ruby leaned up to look for any distinct landmarks. There was nothing around them but the frozen lake behind them and the train tracks that they had just leapt from.

“Well… seeing how we have no tracks to follow other than the train’s, I suggest that we follow our former ride,” Jaune slowly got onto his feet, shaking off the snow on his body.

“Here,” Jaune said as he offered Ruby his hand.

While Ruby took a hold of Jaune’s hand, she used her free hand to scoop up a handful of snow. As soon as she was on her feet, Ruby smashed the handful of snow on top of Jaune’s head.

“Agh! What the…”

Jaune began to wipe the snow off of his head as he heard Ruby starting to laugh again. Looking up at her, he couldn't help but form a smile on his face.

“Oh, you are so gonna pay for that,” Jaune said as he quickly grabbed some snow under him and formed a ball.

_It was a massacre, I tell you. The battle between friends was devastating. There was snow being thrown left and right, up and down, horizontal and diagonal. Jaune managed to hit me a few times and vice versa. But little did I know that Jaune had an ace up his sleeve._

Quickly hiding behind a tree, Jaune grabbed a clump of snow and formed it into a snowball. Taking the opportunity to use one of the few spells that he knows, Jaune whispered, “ _Nix_ ”. The snow in his hand began turned into a small clump in his hand as he yelled, “Think fast!”

Ruby was collecting a new snowball when she looked up just in the last second as the wave of snow made contact with her. Being a spell, the snowball sent Ruby back a few feet.

“Oh my god… Ruby!” Jaune yelled as he ran over to his traveling companion.

Once he was right up next to her, he was staring in horror as Ruby had not moved, “Ruby?”

Ruby quickly faced Jaune with both of her hands extended, “ _AER_!”

Jaune was sent up into the air a few feet into the air, Jaune flailing around helplessly as he fell back onto the ground. Ruby laughed as she brushed herself off, “Using a spell during a game, Jaune? Have you no shame…”

“Ow… Okay, okay I deserved that…” Jaune said.

“Now take my hand and accept your defeat,” Ruby said with her hand extended.

Ruby was so caught up in her victory that she did not see Jaune hiding the snowball behind his back. As he was lifted up, Jaune smirked which sparked a sense of confusion in Ruby. Ruby was quite surprised when Jaune quickly tightened his grip and smashed the snowball on the center her head. Ruby’s expression shifted from a victorious smile to a distasteful glare towards Jaune.

“Now we can call it a truce.”


End file.
